Bubba Wallace made the first NASCAR playoff of his career. Over the years, he has come close but finally broke through and made it.
When Chris Buescher crossed the finished Sunday for his third victory of the season, that all but assured that Wallace sealed his playoff spot.
It’s impressive, considering the fact that he hasn’t won a race this season. But he improved his points standing by two points from last year to this year.
Wallace was thrilled to finally make it and threw a little shade at his critics.
“All those comments that people throw on your videos about Bubba Wallace [not] making the playoffs, they’re wrong,” Wallace told FOX Sports after the race.
Wallace then said,” I love it.” He continued: “I love it. I love it.”
Wallace knows he is not a fan favorite, but that doesn’t seem to phase him, especially now after making the playoffs.
“It was kind of a surreal situation I was in mentally. I was just proud to make it all work and having the people behind me — my team, my wife helping me navigate all the obstacles getting to this point,” he added.
Wallace’s teammate Denny Hamlin was also thrilled for him.
“Look at the teams and the drivers that he’s beaten,” Hamlin said. “That can’t be stated enough. He beat legitimate teams and drivers that make the playoffs all the time.
“He did it because he works hard, and he’s worked on his craft and getting better. We see it in the race results week in and week out,” he said.
Now that he has finally made the playoffs, Wallace thinks his team can make some noise moving forward.
“I think we can do some damage,” Wallace said. “Looking back in our first round of the owner playoffs last year was really, really solid.”We’ve got to create the longevity of that, making the most of it.”
We will all see if he is right and bring home a title for the 23XL racing team.
