[autotag]Bubba Wallace[/autotag] entered the final race of the 2023 NASCAR regular season in a stressful situation as a win by another driver below the cut-line would knock him out. Fortunately for the No. 23 team, that was not the case as Chris Buescher won his third race of the season. Now, Wallace is set to embark on his first journey as a true playoff driver.
Last year, the 23XI Racing driver competed in a car in the Owners’ Championship but not the Drivers’ Championship. This season is the opposite and Wallace is ready to make some noise. When asked during Playoff Media Day about how far the No. 23 team can make it in the playoffs, Wallace seemed optimistic about his chances.
“Well, if I don’t do anything dumb, I hope to be racing at Phoenix,” Wallace said. “Don’t miss any weeks, no vacation. I think we are a lot better than 16th. I look at this first round, as one of the strongest of any of the top 16. Darlington, we ran fourth in the spring, Kansas, we know we can do Kansas. Bristol, Bristol we need a little more magic there, but top-10 car.”
RETWEET TO CONGRATULATE BUBBA WALLACE ON HIS NASCAR CUP SERIES WIN AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY!@BubbaWallace | @23XIRacing pic.twitter.com/n3m8xjICgi
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 11, 2022
“Second round is where we are starting to work on that. Texas, we’ve been okay at. Talladega style is, Talladega, and then the ROVAL. We ran top 10 at, but don’t feel good about that one. Then the third round, I feel pretty good. So if we can do what we know how to do in the first round and maintain or do some stuff in the second round, there is no reason we can’t be top eight, top four. I really feel good about that, but definitely not a 16th place car.”
If Wallace wants to make it to the Championship 4 at Phoenix, it will likely take multiple victories to make it happen due to his playoff points situation. Based on the 2022 playoffs, it is hard to say that Wallace can’t make that happen as the No. 23 car has shown speed to compete on several occasions.
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