"Appreciate the team for carrying me today": Bubba Wallace reflects on difficult first playoffs appearance at Darlington
23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace's first-ever NASCAR Cup Series playoffs appearance certainly did not leave the #23 Toyota Camry TRD driver wanting for more. Finishing at the end of a chaotic 500-mile-long race at Darlington Raceway in P7, Wallace was seen disappointed in how he conducted himself on the track throughout the weekend.
After a sub-standard qualifying performance on Saturday that saw the Mobile, Alabama native start the Cook Out Southern 500 in P19, the first incident of the race came for the #23 driver on lap 1 itself. Making contact with AJ Allmendinger in what he himself describes as a "bonehead" move, Bubba Wallace also ended the event with a coming together with Team Penske's Joey Logano.
The 29-year-old was seen sliding up the racetrack as he tried to battle the #22 Ford Mustang driver, eventually clipping the rear left quarter panel of the Ford. Wallace's #23 Toyota Camry TRD was sent into a spin as a result. However, the #23 did manage to rebound to a P7 finish at the end of the race.
Elaborating on what was more of a team effort than a driver effort last Sunday, Bubba Wallace said in a post-race interview with frontstretch.com:
"I did not do the things I needed to do. Put us really behind starting out in qualifying, bonehead move on lap 1 with AJ (Allmendinger) and then the #22 (Joey Logano), I figured we were racing into the corner, so I surrendered and I guess when I surrendered, I just lost it. But we rebounded. Appreciate the team for carrying me today, it's what it takes, team effort."
Bubba Wallace on what he needs to do to keep his playoff hopes alive going forward
Elaborating further on what happened with the #22 Ford Mustang of Joey Logano while on the track, Bubba Wallace accepted to have not performed to a level he or the team would have liked.
The #23 Toyota Camry TRD driver detailed his mindset while battling Logano, and what he expects out of himself going forward in an interview with frontstretch.com and said:
"Honestly, we can make up a thousand reasons on what happened but I wasn't trying to get too much and I guess I should've tried to get too much, maybe I would've saved it, I don't know. But, just made a lot of mistakes today and gotta clean that stuff up and see what happens."
Watch Bubba Wallace try and keep his playoff hopes alive next weekend at Kansas Speedway for the second race of the Round of 16.