Making it into the playoffs in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season was perhaps the most stressful challenge Bubba Wallace has faced in his career so far. The 23XI Racing man left it until the last race of the regular season to confirm his place in the final 16. While Wallace was not looked at as one of the better drivers in the playoff field, his recovery drive at Darlington certainly earned him a lot of plaudits, even from the ones who doubted him.

Bubba Wallace’s finishing position at Darlington was admirable when one looks at where he was earlier in the race. Despite that, the 29-year-old was not entirely happy as he felt that he could have done better.

Bubba Wallace Was Not Done Any Favors in Stage One

Wallace did not have a good qualifying session before the race. The 23XI Racing driver started from the 19th place on the grid. It would have been a mountain of a task for him to drive through the field and finish the first stage near the top 10.

While the final result was admirable, the way Bubba Wallace ended the first stage, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to finish the race in the top 10. In the final lap of stage one, Wallace made contact with the #22 of Joey Logano, sending him spinning as he dropped a huge number of places. Wallace had to start stage two from near the back of the pack and there was little hope of the 23XI man making an impact at Darlington.

But he ended up making a huge impression at Darlington. From a position of massive disadvantage and after his car had taken a hit, Bubba Wallace showed everyone just how good he really is.

The #23 driver fought from the back of the pack, overtaking cars at every opportunity with swift, sweeping moves. He finished the race in an excellent seventh position, ahead of title favorites like Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. He faced a number of issues throughout the race but his race craft and hunger allowed him to display an outstanding recovery drive.

Still, Bubba was not entirely satisfied. He said that he could have gone for more and that they had made a lot of mistakes which should not happen at this stage of the competition.

“Honestly, we can make up a thousand reasons why that happened but I wasn’t trying to get too much and I guess I should have tried to get too much. Maybe I would’ve saved it, I don’t know but, it just, we made a lot of mistakes today and, gotta clean that stuff up and let’s see what happens,” he said in the post-race interview.

Wallace might have made it into the top 10 after a fantastic drive from the back, but fans on social media were pretty salty about the move he pulled on Joey Logano in stage one. After the move, Bubba radioed, “Alright, it’s time to get my head out of my f***ing a**.”

The radio message update was shared by NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi on Twitter and fans did not have the kindest response to the 23XI Racing driver.

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Fans Pile on Bubba for Stage One Incident

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“No matter how much money the cup, Toyota, and NBC spend, Bubba can’t drive.” one fan commented.

“Bubba is a clown,” said another.

He definitely got absolutely zero sympathy from the set of fans who believe Wallace is a tad overdramatic in the car, blaming others for his own mistakes.

“I wonder who he will blame this on????” a fan wrote while another had a sarcastic question for the 23XI Racing driver.

“Where did he think he was going?”

“Cool, I hope he out to cry like a b***h,” read another brutal comment.

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Safe to say that Bubba is not exactly a fan favorite. A recovery drive like the one he pulled off at Darlington is usually met with appreciation, but not in the case of one as polarizing as the 29-year-old. Do you think Wallace deserves the hate that he has been getting?