Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing “weren’t good enough” to make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in their last chance on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.
Wallace finished 16th in the Southern 500 after starting from the pole and leading 37 laps. Although he gained points on his competition (Chris Buescher, who was sitting above the cutline entering the night) in both stages, it came down to needing a victory in the final stage to overcome the deficit. A walk-off win by Chase Briscoe negated the night’s work for both Buescher and Wallace as Briscoe took the final spot on the playoff grid.
“Wasn’t good enough; simple as that,” Wallace said. “I can get into the weeds, but I’ll probably say the wrong thing. But we just weren’t good enough, and [you’ve] got to be good enough to get here. So that’s it.”
The final deficit for Wallace was 27 points.
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Wallace was outrunning Buescher through much of the final stage to cut the deficit to within just a few points in live time. With 46 laps to go, the favor fell back in Buescher’s hands after he pitted for fresh tires after being involved in a caution with Todd Gilliland. Wallace stayed on track.
On a restart with 26 laps to go, the playoff picture changed for the final time as Briscoe took the race lead. Briscoe led the rest of the way to the finish.
Wallace, meanwhile, was collected in a caution with 24 laps to go. The multi-car crash damaged the rear end of Wallace’s car and put him further behind on the leaderboard.
“We just got behind on our adjustments; we were back and forth,” Wallace said. “We were a little too loose, a little too tight. And that caution with a couple of laps on tires where we stayed out… I don’t know if that was the deciding factor, but we just got so tight there and got back there in traffic in a spot we hadn’t been all day and got caught up in someone else’s mess.
“It’s unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. But hats off to [Chase Briscoe]. I thought I did something yesterday (with the pole) – they one-upped us and showed up when it was game time, so that’s pretty badass. So congrats to them. Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stings saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from all of us on the 23 car. So, best of luck to [Tyler Reddick], and hopefully, a Toyota wins.”
Wallace has made the postseason once (2023) in seven seasons.