Bubba Wallace enters the final race of the Round of 16 behind the 8-ball. He currently sits at 14th in the points standings, needing to climb up at least two spots to advance to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Wallace — who has yet to win a race in 2023 — ran strong at Darlington, finishing seventh. Last week was a tough day at Kansas, ending the race in 32nd. So, what’s it going to take for the driver to get to the next round of NASCAR’s playoffs?
“We just gotta have a good, clean day. I think fifth, fifth, fifth (stage finishes) is 40 points and, historically, you need 38. We mapped it out,” Wallace said. “So, we just gotta execute, you know? Can’t get caught up in looking at the finishing results already. … We know it’s gonna be a track position race and we just have to manage our race the best we can.
“Looking at last year’s stuff, we were OK. We were running fourth I think when we had power steering problems. But, yeah, we just gotta do our own thing and have a good, clean day.”
Saturday night would be a great time for Wallace to record his first win of the 2023 season. But, as he said, if he runs a good, clean race, he’ll at least give himself a shot to advance to the Round of 12.
Wallace has finished inside the top-10 seven times this season, along with four inside the top-five. The Cup Series race from Bristol is the final event in the Round of 16.
Saturday’s night race from Bristol is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET. Coverage airs on USA Network.
NASCAR Cup Series standings entering Bristol
With just one race remaining until the the NASCAR Cup Series advances to the Round of 12, there’s a lot of intensity heading into Saturday’s night race at Bristol. What better place for some chaos, right?
Here’s a look at the top-16 as we prepare for this weekend’s exciting race:
- Kyle Larson – 2117 points
- Tyler Reddick – 2111 points
- Denny Hamlin – 2105 points
- William Byron – 2097 points
- Brad Keselowski – 2089 points
- Ryan Blaney – 2081 points
- Kyle Busch – 2080 points
- Ross Chastain – 2074 points
- Chris Buescher – 2069 points
- Christopher Bell – 2069 points
- Joey Logano – 2068 points
- Kevin Harvick – 2063 points
- Martin Truex Jr. – 2056 points
- Bubba Wallace – 2044 points
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 2041 points
- Michael McDowell – 2023 points
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