By Matt Courson, Staff Writer
HAMPTON, Ga. — Bubba Wallace rebounded after being involved in the largest multi-car crash in Atlanta history and a speeding penalty to finish fifth in a race that set a record for 48 lead changes and where all but five drivers were involved in some sort of accident.
“The racing was very intense,” Wallace said. “It’s the mental side. Are we gonna crash? Am I making the right move? Every corner. Every straightaway. Every lap. It’s a lot. I am mentally drained just from that. You try to be so cool, calm, and collective the whole time and its hard to do in these situations.
“These guys are good so you don’t want to get caught sleeping. Our team executed and brought a fast race car. We got unfortunate damage on Lap 2. I wish we could have given it a legit shot for the win but we will settle for fifth and build on it. Just never quit and gave up. All in all good day, good top-five. A lot to build on and debrief.”
During green flag pit stops, the 23XI Racing driver was one of several to be penalized for speeding on pit road. Specifically he was caught speeding at the transition of the 90 MPH and 45 MPH zones. NASCAR Cup Series teams only had one lap of pit entry practice and one lap of qualifying before the green flag waved for the Ambetter Health 400. Wallace was trapped a lap down until earning the free pass under a late caution.
Atlanta will open the 2024 Playoffs, and Wallace says the track is changing drastically from race to race and he is a huge advocate for practice to return at these superspeedway type racetracks.
“All this damage, its hard to give an honest debrief. We could be better in a lot of ways. We got a little bit of time to think about it, but we’ll get through the regular season.
“We need practice. We need a lot of practice. I hope we can revamp something because this (track) is wearing out. You experience things in the car that is worse over time. So from the last race here, it’s big changes that you go through especially from qualifying to race trim. You go through a lot, so I hope we can slate some practice in so we don’t have guys spinning out and wrecking on their own. I just hope we can get practice.”
Wallace is the only driver to open the season with back-to-back top-five finishes. “We’re starting out on a good foot, but this stuff can change so fast. Sometimes you’re the bat and sometimes you’re the ball, so we gotta keep being the bat,” he said.
Wallace is now fourth in points going into next week’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.