23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace gathered a few companions to race Legends cars in the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway this season. They were the Australian Supercars champions Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen. This week, he raced alongside them at the Concord, North Carolina track and came out ahead.
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Despite qualifying last, Wallace finished in second place while McLaughlin settled for fifth and van Gisbergen came in ninth. Wallace told the press later, “My qualifying efforts suck. And so I thought I was just reliving Sundays, and I actually turned things around. So, hopefully, this is foreshadowing something for the future. That’d be really nice.”
He is currently 13th on the Cup Series points table ahead of this weekend’s visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has secured three top-fives and seven top-10s thus far but with no Victory Lane visits. Considering the legal turmoil that his team is going through following the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, he is in quite the tricky spot as driver of the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE.
These midweek excursions to the Summer Shootout appear to be a welcome relief for him and his Cup Series peers. The trips are also an efficient way for drivers to practice their craft at a time when they get little practice before Sunday races. Van Gisbergen, with all his struggles on ovals, will particularly appreciate this.
Why is the Summer Shootout important for Cup Series drivers?
Many drivers, including Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano, began their careers in the Summer Shootout. Wallace said about the importance of the series last year, “I’ve always sung high praises for Legend Cars just because I felt it taught you a lot. We always told people we were winning and fighting, or we were losing and fighting. We were always fighting because it was so tough.”
The shootout is a 10-race series among eight different divisions. Races are conducted every Tuesday night across June and July before concluding in a season-ending championship race. Notably, it is not just Cup Series icons who make use of this platform. Upcoming young drivers who aren’t financially equipped to race other avenues do so as well.
Hopefully, Wallace and van Gisbergen will benefit from the added experience they have been gaining and put it to use in their Cup Series ventures. They will next race in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday.
