[autotag]Bubba Wallace[/autotag] entered the Indianapolis Road Course with a 58-point gap to the playoff cut-line; however, that has been sliced in half after Michael McDowell’s victory. Wallace now sits 28 points above the cut-line in the final playoff spot after his 18th-place finish at Indianapolis. It wasn’t a horrible race by the driver of the No. 23 car but it’s more so what happened around him.
Daniel Suarez, the first driver currently out of the NASCAR playoffs, earned the second-most points (51) at Indianapolis behind McDowell. It created a situation where Suarez’s gap of 63 points to Wallace turned into 28 points. Unfortunately for Wallace, there is another road course on the way next weekend at Watkins Glen International.
This is not good for the No. 23 team due to their performances on road courses in 2023. Wallace has earned the 29th-most points on road courses while Suarez sits with the 14th-most points. On average, the Trackhouse Racing driver is earning 13.5 more points per race this season. Over the last two road course events, it is even worse at 22.5 points per race.
If Suarez continues this trend, he will be five to 15 points behind Wallace heading into the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. It is certainly not a good situation for Wallace but it may not even matter with another new winner. If someone below the cut-line wins a race, the 23XI Racing driver would have an over 100-point deficit to the last playoff spot.
It is crazy to think Wallace is in this situation despite having the sixth-most points over the last four races but this is the current environment of the playoff cut-line. With Watkins Glen coming up this weekend, it creates a scenario where the driver of the No. 23 car needs to earn as many points as possible while maybe needing a victory to make the playoffs.
Wallace will have his work cut out for him over the next two weeks. There won’t be a driver that has as much pressure on their shoulders and Watkins Glen won’t give many answers on his playoff future unless he wins the event.
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