“I need to portray the best race that I’ve ever had in my career to make the playoffs.” This is what Bubba Wallace said before getting into the Darlington. However, things didn’t go as planned. Heading into the race, Bubba was 21 points behind Chris Buescher and needed to close that gap. At one point, he managed to narrow it down to just 2 points. But Chase Briscoe’s impressive performance against Kyle Busch ultimately made the point difference irrelevant!

Qualifying on points was always a risky gamble, especially with the looming threat of a new driver winning. Bubba Wallace, who started from P1, finished the race in 16th place. Early on, Bubba showed strong form, finishing 2nd in Stage One and 9th in Stage Two. Fortunately, Chris Buescher stayed out of the points in both stages. However, as the laps ticked down, qualifying for the playoffs became increasingly difficult. Despite his strong starting position, the opportunity to win slipped away. It appears the team’s strategy may have fallen short, leading to his missed opportunity. The #23’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, took responsibility for the mistakes.

Could Bubba Wallace have won the race?

Post the race, a disappointed Bubba tried to pinpoint what went wrong, he said, “We were back and forth, a little too loose, a little too tight. We just got so tight and back in traffic in a spot we hadn’t been all day then got caught in someone else’s mess. Just so unfortunate. Bubba probably wouldn’t have been in that situation if the pit stops would have been differently executed. The hosts on the Door Bumper Clear podcast discussed the same. Where Brett Griffin said, “I knew when Bubba didn’t pit and everybody behind him did that he was 100% screwed.”

What happened was the #23 had a nice lead over Chris Buescher. However, in Lap 321, Buescher turned Todd Gilliland, putting the race in caution. Everyone behind Wallace pitted, including Buescher, but Wallace stayed out. After the restart, everyone was on new tires but Bubba, leading to him losing several positions. Kraft owned this mistake, he said, “I was hoping that three laps wasn’t going to make a huge difference but we know that place it does and yeah, so we that kind of set us back. And like I said if you know that put us in position to where the next the yellow came out we were running six at the time. I think we fell to about 13th or 14th yellow came out then everybody came so we stayed about 13th 14th made up a little ground on the restart and then that wreck with Josh and Byron happened right in front of us. Nowhere to go.”

The multi-car accident left Wallace with no option but to get caught up in the crash, being hit from multiple directions. When the checkered flag waved, Wallace ended up 27 points short of qualifying for the playoffs. Darlington likely has the most abrasive track surface on the NASCAR circuit, making fresher tires a significant advantage. If Wallace had pitted for fresher tires, the outcome might have been different. Just look at Kyle Busch—he was nowhere near the top 5 until the last caution. With fresher tires, he surged past everyone to take second place. That’s how crucial tire management is at Darlington.

Now Darlington is the past. The goal of the 23 team should be the future, showing consistency in the next 10 races, maybe getting a couple of wins, and getting a good finish to the season. To then start the next one stronger. NASCAR insider points out at what Wallace needs to do next year.

NASCAR insider charts Bubba Wallace’s future plan

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While Wallace’s 2024 season may not have included a win, it is statistically his most successful yet. With ten races still to go, he has already matched his combined top-five and top-ten finishes from the past two years. His average finish this year stands at 15.81, the highest of his career. However, across his entire career, he has managed only two wins. Recent races have highlighted the potential of the #23 car—now, it’s up to Wallace to capitalize on it.

On this note, Jeff Gluck on ‘The Teardown’ podcast said, “Next year, Bubba’s just gotta come out and don’t even worry about the points. Just go for wins. His car has had the capability of winning. Go for wins.” Gluck further dwells upon how Tyler Reddick’s success would be hard on Wallace. Reddick won the regular season championship, along with two wins. However, that has to be put behind and move forward. Reiterating this, he said, “That’s hard. There’s gonna be a lot of pressure on Bubba next year. You’ve got to take that next step. Some of the things you can’t control. You can’t control getting wrecked at Michigan when you got a fast racecar.”

With some exceptions, the #23 team often finds itself in these spots, where they are wrecked out of the race. “Bad luck, but you’ve gotta stop putting yourself in those positions where you’re at Michigan and you’re in the middle of the pack with a fast car. Sometimes that’s unavoidable with pit stop cycles, but too often it seems like they find themselves in these spots where they shouldn’t be, and bad things happen to them.” Hopefully, we will see a Bubba Wallace fighting for wins in the next season. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.