By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
DARLINGTON, S.C. – The finale race of the 2024 regular season in the NASCAR Cup Series left Bubba Wallace out of the playoffs after a late-race crash at Darlington Raceway.
Wallace started the Cook Out Southern 500 from the pole. He used that track position to score a runner-up in the opening stage. However, the No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE started bouncing back and forth between tight and loose on handling. That dropped Wallace down the running order. He still finished Stage 2 in the top-10, ahead of his primary competitor for the final Playoff spot, Chris Buescher.
Buescher was involved in an accident with Todd Gilliland, seemingly moving Wallace into position to make the playoffs. But with 23 laps to go, the 23XI Racing driver was swept up in a multi-car accident. Despite the damage, Wallace managed to climb back up to 16th on track but was still behind Buescher in points. Although the battle between the duo was for naught as Chase Briscoe won the race and transferred into the Playoffs.
“We just were back and forth on our U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry,” Wallace explained. “We were a little too loose, a little too tight. And the caution a couple laps on tires where we stayed out, I don’t know if that was the deciding factor or not. I was so tight there and got back there in traffic in a spot we hadn’t been all day and got caught up someone else’s mess.
“It’s unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. Hats off to the 14 (Chase Briscoe). I thought I did something yesterday, they one-upped us and showed up when it was game time so that’s pretty bad ass so congrats to them. Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stinks saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort for all of us on the 23 car. Best of luck to the 45 (Tyler Reddick) and hopefully a Toyota wins.”
Now on the outside, looking in, Wallace looks to play the role of Playoff spoiler, which he has done twice before at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021 and Kansas Speedway in 2022.
Next for Wallace is the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In five starts on the current configuration of the 1.54-mile track he has one top-five finish which came earlier this year.
The Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, September 8, at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will also be broadcast on both the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Bubba can’t even get out of his own way.
It’s always somebody else fought never his if he wants to learn how to drive a race car go get him a dirt car for a few years!