After Bubba Wallace missed out on the glorious opportunity to take the win at the Texas Motor Speedway, word among the NASCAR fields was that he would be facing a very steep climb at Talladega. With the weekend behind us, that has been proven right. The No. 23 driver for Denny Hamlin-owned 23XI Racing could not make an impressive impact at the long oval despite possessing one of the fastest machines on the grid.

Coming back from Alabama, one of his crew members revealed the reason for failing to repeat the magic they cast at Texas. Freddie Kraft, the Cup Series spotter for Wallace, is also one of the hosts of the podcast, Door, Bumper, Clear. Discussing the race weekend with his co-hosts on the mic, he opened up about the mistake that set off their downfall and Hamlin’s subsequent disappointment.

The No. 23 team’s spotter exposes a crucial mistake that made way for the Talladega downfall

Despite his worries after the Texas race, Wallace had picked himself up in time for Talladega and sounded confident going in. Racing in his home state of Alabama, the driver always had a slight advantage over the others. However, his inconsistent run through the racing season was a defect.

He had somehow made it as far as the round of 12, but breaking through Talladega was to literally decide his hopes of moving forward. Talking to the press pre-race, he was clear about what the No. 23 team needed to do. Oozing optimism, he had mentioned how the three pieces of the pie [The driver, the pit crew and the crew chief], were functioning as one now at the 23XI Racing garage.

One would have expected these words to reflect on the fast lanes of Talladega, but they never did. With the driver finishing the race at P23, his spotter, Freddie Kraft, talked about the mistake that they made. He said on the podcast, “The reason why guys are good is because they are aggressive. Their spotters are aggressive.

Whatever it is, the aggression yesterday is what hurt you. The best thing to do is just sit in the middle lane and ride there. And guys would pull up and you would get one at a time.” 

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Disclosing the reason for the downfall to be choosing to ride in the top lane, Kraft reminisced on how the “aggression” that had helped them in previous sessions let them down this time. Going ahead, he also spoke about Hamlin’s take on their wrongdoing.

Freddie Kraft talks about his hard conversation with his team’s owner after the disappointing day

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Going into Talladega, Bubba Wallace sat below the round of 8 cutline. After Talladega, he still sits there facing a 9-point deficit. Worse yet for the owners of 23XI Racing, their other driver, Tyler Reddick sits below the cut-off line too. For both Reddick and Wallace, this is their first time in this stage of the contest. Even one of their presence in the round of 8 would mean much for the Michael Jordan-Denny Hamlin partnership. But right now, as things stand, Hamlin has been delivered nothing but disappointment as a team owner.

Behind the wheel, the Joe Gibbs Racing star finished Talladega at P3. Continuing to talk about the No. 23 team’s mistake, Kraft revealed his talk with Hamlin and his response to their mistake. He said, “Denny did it from the lucky dog spot. 3rd or 4th wherever he finished in the race, and that’s all he did.

“He got in the middle lane, and he talked about it. He said it. If it wasn’t a playoff race, he would be doing what we were doing. Try to make it to the third lane. Try to make something happen.” Despite Kraft’s reasoning, Talladega did happen to be a playoff race and Wallace failed to make a dent where it mattered the most.

Going to the Roval, the climb will only be steeper still for the No. 23 team. He has never excelled in road courses. He finished P7 at the track in 2022, but even a run similar to that might not warrant his entry to the round of 8. Should he end up battling Reddick for that spot above the cutline, things might turn a lot more interesting.