By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
In a night owned and operated by Kyle Larson, who led 462 of 500 laps Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, the non-playoff standout was by Bubba Wallace.
The 23XI veteran who missed the playoffs three weeks ago, drove like a playoff driver by rallying from the back half of the top 10 to finish third.
Wallace was the only non-playoff driver amongst the top five finishers.
The comeback came during a much-desired long green-flag run to end the annual night race. And despite running top five at times, Wallace felt the end result was better than the run he had going.
“I didn’t nessesarily think we were a third-place car,” Wallace said. “We just battled, stayed in it all together. Our Camry was just OK and [we were] just trying to make do and trying to keep pace.
“We definitely couldn’t run hard in the beginning. I changed up some technique stuff and gave us a long-run chance.”
In a year dominated by big moments and short runs to the end, Saturday was a very different picture, seeing only three non-stage yellows to slow the race.
“With 20 to go I was figuring it wouldn’t play out in our favor. And thank God it did,” he said. “All-in-all a good day, a top five. I told Bootie (Barker, crew chief) that we are a seventh-to-12th place car, coming in here – and we ended up third.
“It is still not good enough. We have to go to work to figure out how we can be two spots better, but all-in-all – best in class in multiple categories. Just appreciate the effort. It stings, running this well when you are not in the Playoffs, but it just makes you hungrier for next year.”
What made the result pop for Wallace was the personal record it broke. The last two consecutive years, the No. 23 scored five top fives and 10 top 10s. And with the same numbers again heading into Bristol, those stat columns, to his joy, were finally added by one.
“Hey, our stats say it’s our best year yet! Now, we are six and 11; six top fives, 11 top 10s,” he exclaimed. “Good day!”