MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Bubba Wallace has been no stranger to the front of the field this season, but his finishes haven’t often reflected that.
The No. 23 Toyota took the checkered flag fourth after remaining a mainstay at the front of the pack in Sunday’s Cook Out 400, offering to play spoiler in Hendrick Motorsports’ dominant (and prominent) weekend as it celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Wallace didn’t mind breaking up the brigade to finish second in each of the opening stages and hung around the top five despite the Chevrolets’ charge to the front for a 1-2-3 Hendrick finish. His 23XI Racing Toyota faded to sixth on the penultimate run, but a late-race caution and Denny Hamlin’s decision to pit afforded Wallace fifth place on the overtime restart. Wallace capitalized and snagged a pass on longtime buddy Ryan Blaney to finish fourth, complementing his 3.79 average running position to score his first top-five finish since opening the season with two in a row.
“I appreciate everybody’s effort, you know?” Wallace told NASCAR.com. “Being able to close the deal out, it’s just — finally, right? It’s one of those moments where it’s like you can let out a big breath because we got the result that we deserved. I was content with finishing sixth there to end it, but you never give up on those restarts. So it’s actually nice to be able to fire off good and actually net positive.”
Evidenced by the loop data, Wallace was a frequent flyer inside the top five at the 0.526-mile oval Sunday. But the No. 23 car was too “swingy,” Wallace described on his radio.
“When you settle into this corner,” Wallace explained as he walked toward Turn 3, “the rear end wants to come around, so you can’t be aggressive. So it sounds like if you slow down to get it [the car] underneath you, that’s fine, but then somebody else can drive around you. So it’s just the little things. It doesn’t take much to put you in the game; it doesn’t take much to take you out of it.”
