Can Bubba Wallace Be Toyota’s Dark Horse at the Great American Race in 2024?

23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace is undoubtedly a hugely talented NASCAR driver. Ever since he moved to the team in 2021, he has truly come out of his shell. The best part is that he even has a couple of wins to his name and reached the playoffs for the first time in his career, this year. With this excellent run of form, he could be a strong favorite to snatch a few wins in 2024.

Now, every NASCAR Cup season always sees the iconic Daytona 500 kick off the season on an official note. In the upcoming campaign, Toyota is boosting its arsenal with the addition of Legacy Motor Club. Before this, they had the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars and the two 23XI Racing cars. With LMC joining the fray, that makes eight Toyotas, compared to 14 Fords and 14 Chevrolets, all of whom are full-time.

Could Bubba Wallace stand a shot at winning the Daytona 500 in 2024?

Earlier, Toyota and Ford unveiled brand-new cars for next season’s campaign. For the Japanese manufacturing giants, the new car boasts of a new front end. This front end of the Camry XSE, could be the key to allowing the teams to push harder. On the subject of Wallace, he is typically well-known for performing well on superspeedways. This is backed by the fact that both of his Cup wins came at superspeedways, namely Talladega and Kansas.

Unfortunately in 2023, Bubba Wallace had a bit of an ‘off year‘ at his favorite hunting grounds. Admittedly, he was half a lap away from winning at Talladega, which is home soil for the Alabama native. With the Toyota Camry in his hands, Bubba Wallace has been a picture of consistency in the last three years. Even in his Richard Petty Motorsports stint, he finished as the runner-up in the 2018 Daytona 500. In addition to that, he also came close to triumphing at Atlanta, which is yet another superspeedway.

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The #23 driver is severely underrated in the Cup Series arena

Some do tend to write off Wallace on multiple occasions, especially when compared to teammate Tyler Reddick. Sure, Reddick is just as talented, if not more, and is more high profile. However, Bubba Wallace is not a driver to be underestimated. With the new car coming into play, and looking racy, this could be Wallace’s opportunity to push.

Considering that even in 23XI Racing machinery, he was 2nd at Daytona, one cannot help wondering if that win is coming. Especially since the Daytona 500 has had a reputation for giving everyone unusual race winners in the past. Just ask Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Trevor Bayne. So is it truly out of the realm of possibility to expect a Bubba Wallace 2024 Daytona 500 win?

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