Entering Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Bubba Wallace considers himself in a win-or-bust situation—until he isn’t.
Wallace is 16th in the standings, 32 points ahead of 17th-place Ty Gibbs, approaching the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale (7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
That’s a relatively secure position as far as the final Playoff spot is concerned—unless a winless driver not named Brad Keselowski or Kevin Harvick happens to take the checkered flag and knock Wallace out of the postseason.
Last year’s cutoff race at Daytona was a perfect example. Austin Dillon dodged a 13-car wreck with 22 laps left and stole the final Playoff berth with a victory.
Aware of the possibility of an unexpected winner, the driver of the No. 23 Toyota prefers to approach the event with a singleness of purpose, though he also acknowledges that top-10 performances in the first two stages could help his cause.
“Everyone is in a must-win situation,” Wallace said. “If you’re not locked in, you’re in a must-win situation. The last race is Daytona, and we’ve seen surprise winners.
“No one is safe until the race is over with. We’re hoping we can do everything right, continue to get stage points. And if there’s a new winner, it has to be the 23 car—other than that, everyone is fighting for the same real estate.”
Both of Wallace’s career victories—at Talladega in 2021 and Kansas last year—have come during the Cup Series Playoffs. But in both cases, Wallace had failed to qualify for the postseason.
“For some reason, I like to win in the Playoffs—and that doesn’t matter because (the regular season is) over. But a win is a win, right? They can’t take that away from us, but we’re not a part of it.”
This year, Wallace has two ways to rectify that situation, either by winning Saturday night or qualifying on points.
Realistically, that’s a luxury other Playoff hopefuls don’t have—until it isn’t.
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