Bubba Wallace will make a brief return to the NASCAR Xfinity series starting with this week’s race at COTA.
Wallace will race the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing the team his fulltime outfit in the Cup series, 23XI Racing is aligned with. He will also enter the Xfinity event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the same team in July.
Both are companion races to the Cup series and gives Wallace additional track time at two of the newer courses on the NASCAR schedule.
Wallace made his national series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity series in 2012. He made a total of six starts with JGR during the 2012 and 2014 Xfinity Series seasons, earning one pole award and four top-10 finishes. He ran in the series fulltime for Roush in 2015 and 2016 where he scored 6 top five finishes in 66 starts.
“I’m looking forward to partnering back up with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series after making my first career start in NASCAR with them about 10 years ago,” said Wallace. “The No. 18 Toyota GR Supra team is always strong and I’m excited to be competing with them at COTA and Indianapolis. Thanks to the team at 23XI and Toyota for helping to make this happen and thanks to Dr Pepper for coming on board for the race at COTA.”
A sponsor for the race at Indy will be announced at a later date.
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.