Bubba Wallace’s Crew Chief Adamant to Stick to Same Strategy After a Disaster Month Heading to Kansas

Bubba Wallace rolled into Dover with fresh energy after getting sidetracked by a DNF at Talladega. However, the same misfortune struck again at Dover, where a restart crash in the final stage knocked him back, landing him a P32-place finish and bumping him out of a playoff spot. After tangling with Zane Smith, Wallace’s car spun out, taking Christopher Bell and William Byron down with him. The incident marked his second straight finish in the bottom thirtieths, sliding him to P17 in the standings. Despite the recent setbacks, it looks like his crew chief, Bootie Barker, is sticking to the old playbook, believing in Wallace’s original driving style.

Bootie Barker isn’t letting the recent wrecks throw their strategy off course

Bubba Wallace, visibly disappointed after Dover shared his frustrations openly. He told reporters, “It’s a bummer. […] Not the result we needed – back-to-back DNFs. […] I was pissed off and frustrated after Talladega – he [Bootie Barker] said, we are going to have to grind our asses off for Dover – from practice to qualifying, to the race. It’s not going to be pretty. I don’t think he meant that part – the wrecking out part was not going to be pretty, but we had to grind.“

Looking ahead, Wallace is setting his sights on conquering Kansas, vowing not to let anything get in his way of kicking off a good race. You might think after the rough patches, his crew chief would pivot to a new game plan. Yet, Barker seems confident in their current ways, believing no major tweaks are needed despite the setbacks.

He said, “I have yet to talk to Bub about it…I feel, we will see, right, if I’m right, but we don’t need to do anything different. Our pace and really our execution has been very good for the last five-six races. You know Talladega getting wrecked is one thing, Dover getting wrecked is another. When you look back at it, I don’t really know if we made any ‘mistakes’ to certain some things erase. So, I just say going into Kansas, don’t press. Just do what we do.” Bubba Wallace really digs Bootie Barker, so it looks like they would be sticking to their guns with the same plan.

But one thing that fans couldn’t help but notice was that despite the recent wrecks, Wallace, who’s about to become a dad, handled the situation with a lot of maturity, not pointing fingers at anyone. He’s keeping cool about it all, without throwing any blame around.

Bubba Wallace and Co. aren’t pointing fingers over the recent wreck

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Even though it was Zane Smith’s bump that triggered the mess, Bubba Wallace, though disappointed, kept cool in his post-race interview. He said, “I can only just sit here and you have the long ride over here on the golf cart to figure out what you want to say. I guess turning 30, about to be a dad, gotta be more mature. […] Hate it for our Xfinity US Air Force Toyota. It’s not the result we needed […].”

Even his straight-shooting spotter, Freddie Kraft, passed up the chance to blame anyone on his DBC podcast. He explained that Smith was in a tight spot—if he had backed off, he likely would’ve been hit from behind. Kraft even cracked a joke, blaming the real troublemaker as the person who posted on social media that #23 had the best DNF record on the grid.

Bubba Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, stood firm that it wasn’t really anyone’s fault. While admitting Smith should’ve eased off the throttle after Tyler Reddick spun, he recognized that Smith was just racing hard, doing what drivers do.

Now, with newfound calm and unchanged strategies, can Bubba Wallace make a difference next weekend at Kansas? Let us know what you think!