By: Ajeng Cahyaningtyas, Staff Writer
One of the wildest endings to a race this year did not go Bubba Wallace’s way Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
After multiple attempts of late-race restarts, Wallace was in the lead looking to win his way into the Round of 8 in the playoffs. And after clearing the Toyota teammate of Christopher Bell coming to the white flag, he had one more competitor to battle: Denny Hamlin.
Not only did Wallace have to beat manufacture alliances but now he needed to beat his boss of 23XI Racing.
Lifting off the throttle following the near contact with Bell, the No. 23 of Wallace was a sitting duck for the final lap, as Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott swarm him for the top spot.
Down the backstretch it was Hamlin who had the momentum on Wallace and moved to the inside entering Turn 3. Sliding up the track, Wallace had nowhere to go except into the outside wall, which slowed his speed and dropped him from the lead.
Elliott, and Chevrolet, won. Toyota lost.
For Wallace, the Brickyard 400 winner still managed a fifth-place finish despite the contact from Hamlin. Though it was still a strong finish he was unhappy to see the victory slip by at the hands of his team owner.
“Can’t talk to him,” Wallace said of Hamlin. “Two years ago I’d probably say something dumb. He’s a dumbass for that move. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. We race hard every week, Toyota drivers race hard every week. But we respect each other. There is fine line that sometimes gets crossed and you have to understand that.”
Adding to the frustration, the win would have advanced Wallace to the Round of 8 in playoffs for the first time in his career. Instead, he enters next week’s elimination race at the Charlotte Roval 26 points below the cutline.
“I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there,” he said. “You guys have seen it. It’s unfortunate. I was excited to race Denny for the win. We ended up fifth and we gave the [No.] 9 the win. That’s what’s frustrating the most is that we couldn’t get Toyota to Victory Lane. We’ve been working really hard to get our program back here at Kansas.
“We played all of our cards right and it wasn’t meant to be.”
Still, Wallace left Kansas with a few positives to take. He went from running outside the top 15 in the first stage to finishing sixth in Stage 2 and battling for the win in the end. His result was also his first top-five finish since his win at Indianapolis in July.
“To even have a shot at the win with the way we started, you could have fooled me,” He said. “We were not good. We missed it on the fire-off speed. I just really appreciate the team.
“Toyotas were super fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t. All in all, the positives, though, we were minus 27 [points] coming in, we’re minus 26 leaving. We gained a point.”