Wallace having fun again after landmark season

Bubba Wallace entered the NASCAR Cup Series season finale aiming for a top-10 finish in the overall championship standings.

He was hoping to tie his career-best points finish, of 10th in 2023, but again ended up on the wrong side of Ross Chastain. Whereas two years ago, Chastain won the season finale at Phoenix Raceway to leapfrog Wallace to ninth in points, putting the 23XI Racing driver 10th when all was said and done, Wallace dropped from 10th to 11th this time around, with Chastain taking the final spot in the top 10.

Regardless, Wallace said, "I'd call it a successful season, for sure."

There is no reason not to see it that way.

Wallace had a career year across several statistical categories. Not only did he tie his single-season high in top 10 finishes (14) and top-five finishes (six), but Wallace led the most laps he ever had in his No. 23 Toyota Camry in a single season (378).

There was also an enormous victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Brickyard 400 where Wallace earned his third career win – the first since 2022 – and did so in one of NASCAR's crown jewel races. It earned him his second Cup Series postseason berth, and without the last-minute drama.

Wallace scored a massive victory at Indianapolis. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

"For me, it was just another win," said Wallace, of whether that triumph elevated his status in the series. "It's cool to have the Brickyard 400 behind your name, for sure. But honestly, I felt like I was going out to win a late model race or something."

Although in the final standings Wallace finished two spots behind his teammate, Tyler Reddick (who had the same number of top-10 finishes and one more top-five), it could be argued that at times Wallace carried the banner for 23XI Racing. Denny Hamlin, the team co-owner, said as much late in the season, noting that Wallace was often the fastest car the organization had.

Wallace led the most laps of the three 23XI Racing drivers and had only six fewer stage points than Reddick. But the negative for Wallace and his team this season was the number of races that got away, either in results that weren't indicative of where they ran or in races they didn't finish. The nine DNFs that Wallace had were the second-most in the series.

"It's been a lot of fun to show up at the racetrack with a new mindset and having an opportunity to win just about every week is what you want," Wallace said. "You keep throwing your name in the hat - I've always said it - they'll eventually pull it.

"It's been fun. It goes back to what I told Charles [Denike] when we met for the first time, 'Man, I want to have fun when we go to the racetrack,' and we've been doing just that. So, I appreciate him."

Wallace goes into his ninth season in the Cup Series, and his sixth driving for 23XI Racing, in 2026.