By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
A combination of tire compound strategy and avoiding a frantic and controversial finish at Richmond Raceway moved Bubba Wallace above the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs cutline.
While much of the field utilized one of their two sets of softer, option Goodyear Racing tires in the first two stages of the Cook Out 400, crew chief Robert ‘Bootie’ Barker waited until the final stage. While that strategy kept Wallace’s No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE inside the top-10, he didn’t have the opportunity to challenge for the stage wins.
Though Wallace didn’t win either of the first two stages, the points he scored in both allowed him to leapfrog both Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain in points. Not using the red option tires until the final stage gave the Mobile, AL native a set for the overtime restart, the result of the only natural caution of the race.
In the mad scramble Wallace followed his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick into the top-five. As race winner Austin Dillon spun Joey Logano and hooked Wallace’s team owner Denny Hamlin into the outside wall, he snuck by to take the checkered flag in third. After NASCAR officials reviewed the moment of caution, Wallace was credited with a fourth-place finish.
“We knew we had to work coming in here, obviously being below and our team did just that,” Wallace said. “We fought hard. We did not have the best day on pit road. Not from a lack of effort. I appreciate them getting better all night. They showed up when it mattered on the last stop – kept us in it. Our Leidos Toyota Camry was way too loose.
“I tried to bite my tongue from the start of practice. It was a handful, and it definitely bit us in the race, but we kept making it better and better – trying to give the best feedback that I could. Just executed all night. I appreciate the effort from my team. Nice to walk out of here with a top-five finish. We have a long way to go. We just have to keep fighting. I guess you can dump somebody and right rear somebody and be okay. It’s funny how that works.”
Wallace finished Stage 1 in fifth. With no difference in tires in the opening stage, the field was mostly on an even playing field outside of track position. In Stage 2 Wallace slipped back as Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell surged forward on option tires prior to green flag pit stops. In total he earned an additional nine points in the two stages.
The fourth-place finish was Wallace’s fifth top-five finish of the season, matching a single-season career high. It was also his 21st career top-five finish in the Cup Series.
The top-five finish moved Wallace up from 14th to 12th in the overall points standings. He is 192-points behind leader Kyle Larson and currently holds the final spot in for the playoffs with three races to go before the post-season. Wallace has a three-point cushion over both Buescher and Chastain.
Next for Wallace is the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. In 10 starts at the 2.0-mile track his best finish was a runner-up finish in 2022. The 30-year-old has two top-10 finishes and one pole at the Brooklyn, MI track.
The FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, August 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will also be broadcast on both the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.