LAS VEGAS, Nev.: Bubba Wallace and his 23XI Racing team stopped the bleeding in their sour start to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
After suffering did not finishes (DNF) in the DAYTONA 500 and last weekend at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway, Wallace took advantage of a raceable vehicle to climb from his 13th-place starting position and hovered inside the top-10 for the majority of the third NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.
Nestled in sixth in the closing laps of the race, the two-time Cup Series was content on finishing sixth but when the caution flag waved with two laps remaining and a pending restart, Wallace saw the NASCAR overtime finish as an opportunity to better his day.
He did by one position in a chaotic two-lap dash to the checkered flag, earning his first top-five finish since winning at Kansas Speedway last October.
I will say that I hate two tires, it’s never worked for me,” said Wallace after the race. “I’ve always been plowing tight. Bootie (crew chief) and the team did a great job and it fired off money there. I thought we were going to settle for sixth right before that caution came out and I think that’s about where we were all day.
“We have a lot of stuff to work on, but a good, solid day. Finally, be able to finish a race where we deserve. The caution came out and I was like, the gloves are off and you just have to go out there and fight and scrap.
“Proud of our team to come home fourth and have Columbia on the car and give them a great run that they deserve and just try to keep it going now.”
“Even with a strong finish in the books, Wallace said there is still plenty of work to be done to improve the team’s intermediate program for the rest of the season.
“I love coming here to Vegas,” added Wallace. “Really thought we had a much better car than what we had in the race from practice. Just couldn’t get the front end to work for whatever reason.
“We tried everything, going the other way on air, going the opposite way on air, and just could never figure it out, so we’ve got a lot of work to do for our mile-and-a-half stuff. But all in all, solid day. Happy for our No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry TRD team.”
Wallace contributed a “never give up” attitude that rewarded with his 12th career top-five finish.
“Never stop fighting,” Wallace added. “You never give up. I almost come over the radio and said, hey, good job, we finished sixth, then the caution came out, and I perked up again and got some.”
16th in Cup points, the 29-year-old heads to Phoenix – hoping to better his pair of 22nd place finishes from the 1.0-mile oval in 2022.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at: [email protected].
