Bubba Wallace was tired of his own teammate, Tyler Reddick, “kicking your ass.” Race after race, ever since Reddick joined Wallace on 23XI Racing for the start of the 2022 season, more often than not it was Reddick who finished higher in most races than Wallace.
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If you need proof, in 2022, Reddick’s first season with 23XI, he won three races, had 10 top five and 15 top 10 finishes. He also made the playoffs but unfortunately finished 14th in the final standings. By comparison, Wallace had just one win, five top five and 10 top 10 finishes, and missed the playoffs.
In 2023, Reddick had two wins, 10 top five and 16 top 10 finishes, and finished sixth in the playoffs. Bubba, meanwhile, had no wins, five top five and 10 top 10 finishes, but did make the playoffs, finishing 10th.
In 2024, Reddick had his best season yet with 23XI, with three wins, 12 top five and 21 top 10 finishes, making the Championship 4 and finished fourth. Wallace, meanwhile, again had no wins, six top five and 14 top 10 finishes, but also missed the playoffs once again, finishing 18th. But things have been significantly different in 2025.
Reddick has not won a race thus far in this season’s first 28 races, and has just six top five and 10 top 10 finishes. He enters Saturday night’s race at Bristol seventh in the Cup standings.
On the other hand, this has been Bubba’s best season of his Cup career, starting with his shocking win in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with four top five and 12 top 10 finishes. What’s more, he is all but assured to advance to the Round of 12 in the playoffs, heading into Bristol Saturday in fourth place.
Wallace was asked a very poignant question by The Athletic: ”What is a time in your life that you thought was really challenging, but you’re proud of the way that you responded to it?”
“Man, you can go multiple routes with this one,” Wallace quipped. “The first thing that came up was obviously 2020 (zero wins, one top five, five top 10s and 22nd in the final standings) — all of that.
“I’m going to pick (his stretch of) 100 races without a win (until he won the Brickyard 400 this summer). Your teammate just straight kicking your ass, you go through it, you have a kid, and all the stuff we’ve been talking about for the last six months, then finally getting that win.
“So from a year and a half until Indy, that Sunday, all up through that. It was not pretty. I was pissed off, depressed, and then here we are. Life is good.”
But when it comes to Bristol, don’t expect much from Wallace: in 12 career starts (plus three on dirt), he has a combined record of just zero wins, one top five and two top 10 finishes.
Conversely, Reddick surprisingly has just one top five finish in eight starts at Bristol (plus two top five and three top 10 finishes in the three dirt races there).
There’s one last thing about Wallace vs. Reddick heading into Bristol, something that likely very few may have ever thought they’d hear or say.
While Wallace is all but assured of advancing to the Round of 12, with a 50-point edge above the cutline in his favor, Reddick however is in a concerning position. Even though he’s seventh in the standings, he’s 37 points above the cutline. If Reddick has a terrible race and exits early due to a wreck or mechanical issue, he’ll be out of the playoffs while Bubba will go forward.
And then it may be Reddick who flips the script and bemoans how Wallace was the one who kicked his ass.
