‘No stress’ this time around for Wallace as Chase cutoff approaches

On paper, Bubba Wallace is in the same position he normally is this time of the summer in the NASCAR Cup Series: The regular season is winding down, and Wallace is not clinched into the postseason. Furthermore, he and his 23XI Racing team are hovering around the cutline and are by no means in a safe position.

Wallace, however, is not feeling the déjà vu.

“When we run well, it’s top five or six, and when we don’t speed on pit road, there’s a potential of winning, which we had last weekend,” he said. “So, as a bummer of a day that we had last weekend, we gained eight points (on 17th place). No one on our team is happy about being 14th, and we definitely had higher expectations than that coming into the year, but as far as the stress of here we are again, it looks the same but the mentality, for me at least, is different.

“No stress.”

Wallace finished 12th last weekend at Iowa Speedway after a speeding penalty. He had entered pit road as the race leader.

Saturday night’s race at Richmond Raceway and then New Hampshire and Daytona International Speedway will set the Chase field. It will be 16 drivers, as the previous format had been. But Wallace is not in danger of being knocked out of the field by new winners because that caveat no longer exists. It is all about points through performance.

“The biggest oddball for us is next weekend at Loudon just because it’s hit or miss there for us for some reason,” Wallace said. “So, Charles [Denike, pictured above with Wallace] has had that one circled since January 1. So, if we can get through there, we should be fine.

“But Richmond is a really good opportunity for us to continue to go in the upward direction.”

Richmond is another place that Denike, Wallace’s crew chief, has had circled. The team put in a career effort at the Virginia short track one year ago with Wallace leading 123 laps. And then a wheel fell off – literally. The left-rear wheel came off as Wallace was leaving pit road because it wasn’t tight.

Wallace has been ready for Richmond since the checkered flag at Iowa. The team is extremely confident it can show how good it is once again at the facility.

Loudon, as Wallace said, will be a test. The finale, Daytona, is a welcome sight for Wallace, who runs well on superspeedways. One thing that Wallace doesn’t want to face at Daytona is being involved in an early wreck that leaves him biting his nails over points for the rest of the night.

But time will tell if that happens. For now, the situation remains familiar, but Wallace's response to it is different.

“My answer would be a lot shorter,” Wallace smiled and joked. “I wouldn’t like you guys.”