Heading into the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, Bubba Wallace and his team believed they could be in contention for a great day. However, things did not pan out that way once the race started, as the #23 car found itself struggling in the middle of the pack for most of the outing, although Wallace did make some ground initially.
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After his final pit stop ended up being problematic, Wallace re-emerged in the mid-pack. Thereafter, all he had to do was push to the finish line and salvage some points to aid his round of eight hopes. But just before the drivers could cross the finish line at the end of the race, a massive wreck took place which ended up collecting Wallace as well. Later on, the official results indicated that he had finished in the 23rd place.
Following the race, a disappointed Wallace was met by team owner Michael Jordan who embraced his driver in support. Later on, NASCAR insider Kyle Petty explained how Jordan’s actions as a team owner were similar to those of other team owners like Rick Hendrick, who often support their drivers both in good and bad times.
Kyle Petty talks about Michael Jordan supporting Bubba Wallace after Talladega race
While speaking on the Motorsports on NBC Podcast, Petty mentioned, “I don’t care whether it’s Michael Jordan. I don’t. And I don’t mean this in a bad way. I’ve seen Rick Hendrick do the same thing. Walk up to chase Elliott and wrap his arm around him, walk up to Kyle Larson and wrap his arm, walk up to Jeff Gordon and wrap his arm around him and just start talking.”
Petty stated that when a boss is also a friend and offers comfort and support by reaching out and talking to their employee, it can be a powerful gesture. Adding, “That solves everything. And that cleans up everything.”
“So no matter what Bubba says about himself, knowing that Michael Jordan or Denny Hamlin or Rick Hendrick … is there with his back means everything in the world of Bubba Wallace. And again, I take Michael Jordan out of that equation, because I’ve seen other owners do the same thing…”
Finally Petty concluded that it must be satisfying for Wallace to have the owner come up to him after a bad race and offer encouragement. He added, “That’s a huge boost, and Bubba should take that as a huge positive.”
Wallace disappointed with his race at Talladega
Following the race, Wallace walked up to the media and stated, “Not the day that we needed. We put ourselves behind working on a plan. Plans are great with your teammates but I felt like it hurt us to start and we got buried back in track positions.”
He added, “So you had to fight and claw your way back up to the top. It took us about three stages to get there and we gave it away on the last pit stop. So not what we needed.”
Superspeedways have usually been Wallace’s forte. However, last weekend’s race did not seem to favor him by much. At times he did make it to the top of the field, especially during the final stage of the race. But it was not enough for him to go on and possibly fight for a win.
At the moment both 23XI Racing cars are just below the cutline for the round of eight and they would have to do something spectacular to advance to the next round at the weekend’s race at the Charlotte Roval.
