A pole position and even leading 37 laps were not enough for Bubba Wallace to win the Southern 500. What more could he have done? To many fans, his 16th-place finish at Darlington Raceway seems simply unfortunate. Perhaps the outcome would have been different had Wallace pitted for new tires by lap 337. However, 23XI Racing’s co-owner, Denny Hamlin doesn’t think so.

Everyone involved with 23XI Racing was experiencing mixed emotions after the Cook Out Southern 500. On one hand, Tyler Reddick had secured the regular series championship, finishing just one point ahead of Kyle Larson before playoffs began at Atlanta Motor Speedway. On the other hand, Bubba Wallace failed to qualify for the postseason, despite finishing in 2nd place at the end of Stage 1 and 9th place at the end of Stage 2. In a format that only rewards victors, Bubba Wallace simply hadn’t shown enough throughout the season to get him through on points like he did in 2023.

On the Actions Detrimental podcast, co-host Jared Allen asked the 23XI Racing co-owner whether the driver should have opted for new tires by lap 337. Hamlin said, “Nothing. No, because I still don’t think he was going to win the race. The way it turned out, with Briscoe winning, he was going to have to win… Bubba wasn’t ahead of Kyle at that time. Kyle was going to come out in front of him regardless.”

With this Hamlin burst the narrative that Bubba Wallace had chances of winning the race if it wasn’t for the pit stop issue. But things don’t end here.

Further highlighting the reasons behind Wallace’s result at Darlington, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver shared, “Yeah, ifs and buts… I think it would have been very difficult. It seemed like, for whatever reason, they just lost a little pace. Once the lost the track position, the 23 seemed like they were kind of hanging on the rest of the day. When I say hanging on, they were in the top 10 still, but I didn’t think they had the pace that the #5, the #14, and #11, some of the others had.”

Ahead of the Cook Out Southern 500, Bubba Wallace knew that he needed to finish at least 12 places ahead of his playoff rival Chris Buscher to make it into the top 16. Even though he finished 10 spots behind the RFK Racing driver, the result didn’t matter in the grander scheme of things. Chase Briscoe won the race at Darlington and the Cup Series had its 14th different winner, which meant only Martin Truex Jr and Ty Gibbs were eligible for the postseason through points.

What’s even more interesting is that Wallace’s teammate, Tyler Reddick, finished 10th despite having a stomach bug. Though he was on medication, there were moments in the race when the driver felt too sick, yet he completed the race with a better outcome as compared to Wallace.

It’s not hard to see what exactly has gone wrong for Bubba Wallace this season. The No. 23 Toyota driver has secured just one stage win in the opening 26 races, which has hurt his playoff points tally. Wallace also had a stretch of nine races with eight finishes outside the top 10, showing his lack of consistency, which came to haunt him at the end. Being forced to retire early three times hasn’t helped his ambitions either, but the 23XI Racing driver will take this as a good learning experience ahead of the 2025 season.

Bubba Wallace claims missing playoffs wasn’t due to lack of effort!

You can almost say that Bubba Wallace was unlucky at Darlington Raceway. Despite a strong start to the race, the 23XI Racing driver struggled to maintain his track position after finding it difficult to handle his No. 23 Toyota Camry. Even though he struggled, the 30-year-old ended Stage 2 in ninth place, and remained ahead of playoff rival Chris Buescher.

However, everything changed when Wallace was involved in a multi-car accident with 23 laps to go, which forced him to get into the pits for some damage control. His car emerged from that ordeal battered and bruised, which may have played a role in the Alabama native finished the race just outside the top 15.

Speaking after the race, Wallace opened up about his playoff heartache by saying, “It’s unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. Hats off to the 14 (Chase Briscoe). I thought I did something yesterday, they one-upped us and showed up when it was game time so that’s pretty bada-s so congrats to them. Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stinks saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort for all of us on the 23-car. Best of luck to the 45 (Tyler Reddick) and hopefully a Toyota wins.”

With 10 races remaining before the season finally comes to a close, Bubba Wallace has nothing to race for but pride. However, the driver has built quite a momentum during the closing stages of the regular season, securing three top-six results in the last five races. Considering his impressive resurgence in form, Wallace will hope to finish the year strongly and perhaps break his winless streak that goes back to Kansas Speedway in 2022.

If Tyler Reddick’s performances are any indication, the 23XI Racing Toyota has the speed to compete against the very best. Whether Wallace can utilize his car’s capability to its maximum potential remains to be seen.

What are your thoughts about Bubba Wallace’s race at the Cook Out Southern 500? Let us know in the comments!