At the Great American Getaway 400, presented by VisitPA.com, Ross Chastain had a horrible race as he had to retire the car, scoring no points at the Pocono Raceway. On Lap 53, Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro spun out in Turn 3 and made hard contact with the outside retaining wall. As he attempted to return to the pit road, he also scraped the Turn 1 wall, and that led the team to decide that it was time to retire the car. While Trackhouse Racing had a tough weekend, Bubba Wallace turned out to be the beneficiary.

Although the Chicago Street Race was not the weekend that Wallace wanted, he managed to catch up at Pocono. Currently, Wallace is in the drop-off zone from the playoffs, with him being 45 points behind. His long-lasting rivalry with Ross Chastain for the spot continues as the ‘wall rider’ remains in the safe zone. Right now, the 23XI Racing driver really needs to step his game up because despite closing the gap with his rival, there is still an uphill to claim before he gets into the playoffs.

How Pocono helped Bubba Wallace move closer to the playoffs

Bubba Wallace, after a challenging weekend in Chicago that resulted in a $50,000 fine for an incident with Alex Bowman, aimed for a positive outcome at Pocono. He succeeded, finishing in tenth place, which significantly improved his chances of finding himself in the playoffs. Prior to the race, Wallace was 45 points below the playoff cut-off line, while Ross Chastain was comfortably 53 points above it. However, Chastain’s unfortunate crash on Lap 53, which resulted in a 36th-place finish, drastically changed the scenario. Wallace is now just 27 points behind Chastain, who holds the final playoff spot.

Adding to Wallace’s advantage, Ty Gibbs, another contender for a playoff spot, experienced an engine failure, further narrowing the competition. Gibbs now stands 67 points above the elimination line. Despite Wallace’s improvement, he acknowledges that his performance wasn’t optimal, but luck played a role in his favor with the misfortunes of Chastain and Gibbs.After the race, Wallace told NASCAR.com, “We didn’t capitalize on points. But the 1 (Chastain) had a bad day. The 54 (Gibbs) had a bad day. It was a nice rebound. You know, usually we’re the opposite. We start really good and end up fading and giving up a lot of track position. Here, we were able to call a good strategy and hang on. We just didn’t have the car.”

Since 2021, Bubba Wallace has raced at Pocono 5 times and has the best finish of P5 on the track. He has the 5th best average finish at the circuit and knowing that, better results were expected. The race only put him a few points closer to Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher who are P15 and P16 respectively.

However, the P10 finish after having a DNF in Chicago seems like a good outcome but in the remaining 5 races, he will have to give his all. The competition is getting stiff and every race counts as we head into the last 5 races before the playoffs begin. Considering Bubba Wallace’s position in the Cup series, do you think he will make it into the playoffs? Here is where the driver stands after The Great American Getaway 400.

Where does Bubba Wallace stand compared to Ross Chastain?

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Ross Chastain finds himself in 15th place in the NASCAR standings, holding on to a playoff position despite his crash and subsequent 36th-place finish at Pocono Raceway. Bubba Wallace, currently 17th, is closing in on the Trackhouse Racing driver, now just 27 points behind him. With only five races left in the regular season, the battle between these two drivers for a playoff spot is getting more intense by the race.

Bubba Wallace’s strengths lie in his performances at several of the upcoming tracks. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been a strong venue for Wallace, where he attained his impressive third-place finish in 2019 with Richard Petty Motorsports. At Michigan, Wallace nearly secured a win in 2022 before a late-race caution dropped him to second place.

Additionally, Ross Chastain made it into the top 5 this year at Iowa and Las Vegas this season, running consistently within the top ten. Another looming threat to Wallaces’ chance at the playoffs is Chris Buescher who has dominated Cook Out 400, FireKeepers Casino 400, and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 last year. With the driver being proficient on the upcoming circuits, the team has a their work cut out for them.

Considering how the season looks, Wallace will need to secure a win or hope for another incident to help close the gap with his competitors. With that said, do you think Wallace will be able to eliminate his rivals from the spot in the playoffs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.