Bubba Wallace went to the Pocono Raceway wishing to have fun after a heated weekend in Chicago that saw him collect a fine of $50,000 for crashing into Alex Bowman. He ended up having a really good day finishing in tenth place and now finds himself on the verge of securing a playoff spot. It was the misfortune of others as much as his performance that fueled this positive result.
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Ross Chastain had been 53 points above the playoff elimination line before the race and Wallace had been 45 points below it. Chastain could’ve potentially widened this gap had he not spun and crashed out on Lap 53. He ended up in 36th place which ended up being a huge boon for Wallace. The 23XI Racing driver now sits a mere 27 points below Chastain who occupies the final playoff spot on the grid.
Playoff picture: Bubba Wallace finishes P10 to move within 27 points of Ross Chastain for the final playoff spot (Chastain had been up 53 before today).
Regular season title: Chase Elliott retakes points lead from Kyle Larson (-3), but Reddick (-15) and Hamlin (-20) also close.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 14, 2024
Another piece that fell in favor of Wallace was the engine failure of Ty Gibbs, another driver who is hoping to qualify for the playoffs on points. The Joe Gibbs Racing youngster is now just 67 points above the elimination line. Though Wallace is still on the outside looking in, the Pocono developments have shifted the winds in his favor for the time being.
He told NASCAR.com, “We didn’t capitalize on points. But the 1 (Chastain) had a bad day. The 54 (Gibbs) had a bad day. It was a nice rebound. You know, usually we’re the opposite. We start really good and end up fading and giving up a lot of track position. Here, we were able to call a good strategy and hang on. We just didn’t have the car.”
Chastain isn’t pleased with himself after his mistake at Pocono
There comes a certain standard of driving quality with being a Cup Series driver. Chastain believes that he fell short of it in Pocono. His No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro broke loose in Turn 3 on Lap 53 and made hard contact with the outside retaining wall. He also scraped the Turn 1 wall while returning his car to the pit road. The crew determined that his day was done after assessing the damage.
The Trackhouse star said, “I’m a racecar driver in the Cup Series, I shouldn’t be doing that. You don’t see us do that too often, so when I do it myself, I’m as surprised as everyone else. I just flat-spuned out. We’re all sliding around but I just spun out.” He certainly is in a tougher corner now leaving Pocono than he was coming in. He has got five races left to wiggle out of it.
