Bubba Wallace and team were ‘falling and bleeding’ on the track during an EMOTIONAL day at Richmond

Bubba Wallace finished the Richmond Cup race at P12 starting the race at P5.

Bubba Wallace and team were ‘falling and bleeding’ on the track during an EMOTIONAL day at Richmond

Bubba Wallace (Credits: RollingStone)

23XI Racing came to the Richmond Cup event with the best Cup setup they got and was determined to produce the best at a track that demands balance and precession. They had a solid start to the weekend with Tyler Reddick starting on pole and Bubba Wallace at P6. They went on to lead 161 combined laps and finished 1-2 in stage one but failed to finish inside the top 10 at the end.

For the No:23 Toyota Camry driver Bubba Wallace it was another good opportunity to secure a win, and the playoff spot slipped out of hand. His impressive start to the race was hindered by a poor green-flag pitstop, where his right-rear tire didn’t come off easily. Wallace failed to gain positions despite the car running in the top 10 the whole day.

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“We fell out of that window and made it easier for people to get by us and lose that track position. When you’re falling and bleeding, you’re trying to do everything you can and it’s just tough. It was a good day for McDonald’s Toyota, the No. 23 car. I thought it was a good day for the team, I’m not sure what happened to the No. 45 but all in all, we’ll take it,” Wallace told the media after the race.

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A victory would have meant so much for the team emotionally as well as the No:23 crew had the day dedicated to the late Tommy Kraft, father of Wallace’s longtime friend and spotter Freddie Kraft. The driver removed his name from the driver’s side window and instead pasted Kraft Sr’s name using tape.

Wallace became emotional after the race when he saw the name again. He said, “[We were] racing with a lot there. He (Tommy) was driving the [expletive] out of it. I told him at the start of the race I’m just going to sit back and let him wheel it and man, we were awesome.”

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Bubba Wallace is optimistic about securing a playoff spot

Bubba Wallace 23XI
Bubba Wallace (Credits: @23xiracing/Twitter)

The day wasn’t all that bad for Wallace. He was the second-best finishing driver in the playoff bubble behind race-winner Chris Buescher. He could amass  41 points on Sunday and grew his advantage to 54, giving him a cushion for at least a race.

Despite the not-so-favorable results, he added that the No:23 team’s time would come if he can be in the fight for a win for the reaming races, and Michigan next week will be their priority. One of the big challenges he has, though is the fact that two of the coming races are road courses, where he isn’t usually a contender.

“We keep saying it — Bootie [Barker] will keep saying it — you keep throwing your name in the hat, our time will come. Obviously we know Michigan is next week, so just have to learn from this one and build off of it and go into there,” Wallace said.

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