For the second time this year, Bubba Wallace fell a step short of reaching Victory Lane. The 23XI Racing driver displayed sheer dominance at the EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Sunday night, and led for 46 laps, too. But a questionable move in overtime resulted in him losing spots.
Advertisement
Wallace eventually finished in an underwhelming eighth place. However, his performance showed how potent a driver he could be this year. Former driver Kyle Petty is willing to bet huge on Wallace.
“He controlled the race from the start. He lost control there on that one block. On that one block, he lost the plot of the race a little bit,” said Petty on NASCAR: Inside The Race, before stating what he expects from the No 23 driver this season.
“But if you look at it, it’s as good a race as Bubba has driven, maybe since the Brickyard. The Brickyard was a phenomenal race for Bubba Wallace. But that’s the type of races that Bubba can put together, and I believe he will constantly and consistently put together as we go into this year. And we’re going to see him in victory lane multiple times this year,” he added.
Last year, Wallace won the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Petty strongly believes that he can repeat such performances this year, and that too, more regularly. Judging from the way he raced at Daytona the earlier weekend, and now at Atlanta, any betting man would stack up the same way Petty has.
Wallace reflects on his finish at Atlanta
Wallace was leading the race when it went into overtime. He moved to the outside lane to try to block drivers who were coming up, but ended up leaving too much space on the inside. This allowed others who were behind him to shoot forward. And, his teammate, Tyler Reddick, reached the checkered flag first.
“I didn’t think I moved up that much to allow — to put myself up top. Unfortunate, but what a race car we had today,” said Wallace after the race.
While Wallace regretted not reaching Victory Lane, he was still excited that a Toyota did. He now sits second on the points table with 85 points, trailing Reddick by 40.
23XI Racing has had a dream start to the 2026 season. Wallace and Reddick have set the benchmark in terms of performance while their competitors are trying hard to catch up.
