Bubba Wallace: 'About F---ing Time We Got' a Good Finish
Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a welcomed sight for Bubba Wallace, his No. 23 23XI Racing team, and the driver's legion of fans. After leading a total of 56 laps in the race, Wallace was able to hang on in the closing laps to record a third-place finish, his first top-five finish of the season.
RECAP: Kyle Larson Outduels Teammate Alex Bowman in Closing Laps at Homestead
RESULTS: Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead
It's not that Wallace hasn't been fast enough to record a top-five finish on merit through the previous five races to start the campaign. In addition to the 56 laps led Sunday at Homestead, the driver also led double-digit laps in the season-opening Daytona 500 and in last week's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
However, racing is a fickle sport in which good results don't always come to those who deserve them. There are so many intangibles. At Homestead, the intangibles finally aligned with Wallace's on-track speed, and it matched for a solid finish.
"About f---ing time we got one," Wallace said in a media scrum on pit road after the race.
While the day ended with the best run of his season, Wallace struggled early in the race with a car that he felt wasn't in the correct zip code to contend for a race win. However, Wallace credits his pit crew for getting him back in the game.
And once he was near the front of the field, Wallace's No. 23 Toyota came to life.
"I thought today we had to fight for it," Wallace said. "We fired off just okay, and I said, I want clean air. I want good track position, and my pit crew was solid. They got us up there and gave me a shot. I had a good restart, and it was game on from there."
Wallace also had to put aside some frustrating moments on track on his path to the solid finish, something he's struggled to do in the past. However, Wallace, who became a father last October and has vowed in recent years to not let little things bother him, was unphased by how he was raced by Noah Gragson and Joey Logano in particular on Sunday.
"Yeah, I mean, I look at those situations and I'm on the outside of him, and I get fenced by [Gragson]. And then I'm on the outside of [Logano], and I don't know what he does, he just gasses up. And it's like, what are we doing? So, you just race how you're raced, and it is what it is. But yeah, I think taking a deep breath and having the people around you to keep you grounded is super important, but if you want to be a jackass, I can be a jackass back."
Thankfully neither of those situations ruined what turned out to be a really good day for Wallace and his team. And although Wallace held the lead in the late stages of the race, but couldn't hold off Alex Bowman, and eventual race-winner Kyle Larson, Wallace takes solace in coming away with a much-needed good finish.
"I'd say so," Wallace said when asked if the third-place run was a moral victory. "It's just good to come out of here with a little bit of a weight off of your shoulders. Good points day, so, I truly believe in this team and the direction that we're heading, and being at the front, I'm about tired of y'all talking about [teammate Tyler Reddick] each and every week. Talk about the 23 a little bit."
With more runs like Wallace had Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the media is likely to spend a lot more time talking about the performance of his No. 23 car. Despite having a rocky season, as far as finishes are concerned, prior to Homestead, the top-five run has Wallace sitting seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship standings after the season's sixth race.
Wallace's ranking in the championship standings a testament to how well he and his team have performed during Stages in races even when they haven't gotten the finishes they necessarily have deserved this season.
The 31-year-old racer will look to continue building on the momentum of his run at Homestead in next weekend's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. The 0.526-mile short track has been kind to Wallace over the years as he has a top-five, a fourth-place run last Spring, and three top-10s in his 14 career starts at the facility.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.