Bubba Wallace Throws His Daytona NASCAR Test Participation in Doubt With Injury Update

The 2022 NASCAR Cup season is steadily approaching and testing is well underway. However, 23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace have hit a snag in their preparation for the new season. This is because Wallace injured himself earlier and had to undergo surgery to correct it.

Speaking to Fox Sports, Wallace said, “Shoulder’s good, it’s obviously healing up and in the process. So all is good there. I guess it was just wear and tear over the years. Haven’t done anything traumatic to it, so just needed some work done. Do we know when these [Daytona] tests are? Because they keep moving them. I don’t know, we’ll have to see what the doc says. Recovery’s going well, physical therapy is going well. We don’t have an exact timeframe yet”

What does this mean for Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing?

Obviously, this spells bad news for the African-American driver. This is because it will be a massive setback for his hopes of studying the Next Gen car along with his teammate and rivals. Now, all that he can do is sit and try to recover quickly and hopefully be fit in time for the Daytona test.

On the bright side, it is believed that these pre-season tests will be in January. So, this could provide Bubba Wallace with a bit of a window to recuperate. This will be especially important before Christmas and New Year’s kick in; naturally, the African-American driver will want this time off to celebrate with his loved ones.

From the team’s perspective, they will be hoping and praying that he is fully fit by January. Although they still have veteran driver Kurt Busch in their ranks, it will be better to have two drivers on track. The tests will enable both of them to present valuable data on the new cars which they can compare and bounce off each other.

READ MORE: “Watched That Race Probably 100 Times” – Bubba Wallace Reflects on his Talladega Win