Bubba Wallace had some outside intervention Sunday at Watkins Glen. The 23XI Racing driver came home 12th and while that might not be a finish to get too excited about, it does keep Wallace in NASCAR’s Playoffs with one race left in the regular season.
It was a quiet drama free day that Wallace needed to keep the 16th and final spot in the Playoffs by 32 points. It was helped in part by William Byron winning his fourth race of the season and
“Just executing really,” Wallace said. “Thanks to (William) Bryon for winning that. Didn’t have a new winner.
“I’m proud of myself. That’s the first time I felt proud of myself at a road course race. I just executed and didn’t lose focus — maybe one time. And that’s the difference maker. You’ve got to stay on it at these places. Just hats off to my team for sticking with me and believing in me on these road courses.
“I know we still have one more to go, but we wanted to maintain our gap and not lose too many and we gained.
“Just a great day for the 23 team. Now, we get to go in Daytona stressful as hell, but it takes a little bit of the edge off for sure.”
Wallace said he got some advice from an IndyCar driver who happens to be a five-time IndyCar champion.
“Shout out to Scott Dixon,” Wallace said. “I actually talked to him this morning about the mental piece of it. It’s hard when you come into a road course race, and you tell yourself that every time. He basically told me to shut the hell up and that I’m here for a reason and to trust in myself and believe in myself and this is what can happen.
“I don’t think I had one lap where I said I was going to suck, so it was good.”
Wallace is 32 points to the good for the final Playoff spot unless there is a first-time season winner next week at Daytona. If not, his nearest rival for the final spot is rookie Ty Gibbs. Gibbs finished fifth Sunday.
“I felt like I didn’t perform there as good as I needed to and need to do a better job to get back up and go race for the win there,” Gibbs said. “I felt like I was faster than the guys in front of us and I didn’t do a good job getting through them. I’ve got to study on something here and get past these guys.”
And while Wallace said Daytona will be stressful as hell, Gibbs isn’t so sure.
“I don’t really know what mindset to have going there,” Gibbs said. “Just stay clean and try to make it to the end and have a good finish.”
Wallace has two second place finishes in the last 4 races at Daytona. In his two Cup starts there, Gibbs has a best finish of 13th.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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