Bubba Wallace is ‘pissed at himself’ over the R-12 dream-shattering crash at Kansas
Bubba Wallace’s playoff progression chase ended in a disappointment at Kansas.
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Bubba Wallace (Via IMAGO)
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace came to the Kansas playoff race with the objective of having another solid finish upfront, if not a repeat of his 2022 race wins. He crashed out of the race on lap 108 after his right rear tire blew off. His team was able to get the car fixed within the DVP time frame but was multiple laps down and had to settle for a P32 finish.
Wallace while discussing the incident, Wallace pointed out that he first got loose on lap 103 due to his racing line, but five laps later, it was the rear tire. He added that he is mad at himself for running too close to the wall, as if not for his proximity to the barrier during the incident, major damages to the car could have been avoided.
“No. I got loose, I got loose about five laps before, but I realized that was my line and my approach to the exit of Turn 4. Then a few laps later, it blew out, no indication going into one. I was pissed at myself; maybe if I wasn’t as close to the fence, maybe I would have got by with less damage,” Wallace said, as reported by ProTalk.
“You’re never going to get a flat tire from blowing a tire when you’re 20. You’re going to get it when you’re really fast and lights out against the competition. The 5 [Kyle Larson] was kicking our ass for sure, but then something happened to them, and they weren’t a factor, and the 11 [Denny Hamlin] and 45 [Tyler Reddick] came out of nowhere,” he added.
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Bubba Wallace is pumped by teammate Tyler Reddick’s win
While the No:23 teams’ day ended in disappointment, it was a day to rejoice for 23XI Racing as Tyler Reddick got them their second win of the 2023 season and secured the side’s maiden playoff R-12 entry. He also helped the team to continue the Kansas fall race win streak and Toyota’s win streak at the track going.
“Congratulations to Tyler I’m pumped for him for sure. I’m glad he listened to me because I was running him down, and he got kinda sketched out that I was close to him trying to help him – he’s a little mental case sometimes, but hey it all works out he got us the dub and proud of him, kept the 45 streak at Kansas in the fall going, so it’s good,” Wallace said.
Wallace was positioned at P13, with one point off the cutline following his P7 finish at Darlington last week and hopefully coming this weekend. He is now 19 points off the top P12 and has dropped one place down to P14. Going into Bristol next week, he needs to secure a solid top-10 finish and has to hope that some of his rivals have a bad day at the track.
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Justin P Joy
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