The scene was ecstatic at NBA great, Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team. Jordan hugged his drivers and his business partner and Joe Gibbs Racing partner, Denny Hamlin in joy as his team made a mark, making major strides in terms of performance.

Bubba Wallace, the #23 driver of the proud Toyota camp was the man of the hour as he made his boss, MJ exude with pride. While his teammate and the team’s road racing phenom, Tyler Reddick claimed a much-appreciated victory at Circuit of The Americas, Wallace looked a little off as he struggled to find the rhythm.

But that’s in the past as Wallace on Saturday crossed a new career milestone for him and his team, making his boss proud. However, despite being on top of the world, the Alabama native isn’t slacking or losing sight of his goal in any manner as he revealed in a recent exclusive.

Michael Jordan’s pride Bubba Wallace remains dead focused despite the career-defining milestone

Unlike most teams in the organization like Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing, MJ and Denny Hamlin partnered 23XI Racing did what they both couldn’t. That is to get all of their cars in the playoffs. For HMS, both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman missed out on the 16. Whereas for fellow Toyota camp, Joe Gibbs Racing, they too missed out with Joe Gibbs‘ grandson Ty Gibbs missing the window by a close margin.

However, 23XI Racing did what the giants of the sport couldn’t. They got their both #23 and #45 cars in the playoff picture that too in a close contest. COTA triumphant Tyler Reddick was safe with a stellar road course victory but things weren’t the same for Bubba Wallace who solely relied on points rather than wins.

While a W was missing from the driver’s resume, the #23 driver adopted a brilliant strategy to pick off valuable points to stay in the game. Despite being a rather young team, Wallace together with his teammate got into the playoff 16, making it Wallace’s first ever playoff.

Despite making his bosses proud, the 29-year-old never took his eyes off the gold as he revealed his focus and commitment to make it big in 2023. When asked about the celebration post the race, Wallace said, “Saturday, we got home about 1:30 a.m. We didn’t go to bed until like 3 just from being wired, but I had the 23 team over Sunday, and we didn’t get too crazy, because we knew that Monday was right around the corner.” 

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He then added, “I had a couple adult beverages and played some pool. Just good to kind of kick back and celebrate with them and show that I’m proud of them of what we were able to do.” 

Bubba Wallace reveals his “strong suits” as the action heads to the playoff starter at Darlington

For the first time ever in his career, Wallace has made it into the playoffs. Though the season started out rough for the driver with several amateurish mistakes on his part, as we head to the playoff rounds, the driver has made it pretty decently.

Speaking on NASCAR’s Racehub ahead of his Sunday’s race at Darlington, Wallace was asked where his strong suits are. To which the driver named the tracks that he thought he faired best, he said, “I mean you look at Darlington – started 2nd, finished 4th in the spring.” 

He mentioned his stellar Kansas Speedway run where he got a spectacular 2nd finish closely behind the race winner Denny Hamlin. He added to his point, saying, “Kansas, we know what we’re capable of at Kansas, Bristol, I feel like we get by there and do some good things.” 

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Moreover, Wallace believes he would most likely be in his element in the first round. “I look at the first round as really doing some positive things, really doing some damage to the competitors, moving forward, and getting off that last spot in the playoffs so there’s a lot of cars in front of us that we know we’re capable of out running we just have to do it,” said the driver.