Bubba Wallace’s run in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway nearly came to an end during a Lap 173 incident.
Wallace, in a three-wide battle for the lead with Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe, got loose going into Turn 2 and nearly went for a spin. Wallace was able to save his No. 23 Toyota, however, Briscoe couldn’t keep his No. 14 Ford from going for a spin.
Briscoe’s spin brought out the ninth caution of the day at Texas. Wallace is back in 25th after the incident, with Briscoe following behind in 32nd.
Wallace entered Sunday’s race as one of the favorites, qualifying 10th. The 30-year-old is off to a solid start in 2024, tallying three top-5 finishes in his first eight starts. He finished P5 at Daytona and Atlanta to kick off the season before finishing P4 in this past Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Wallace has three top-5 finishes in 11 starts at Texas, including a P3 result in last year’s spring race.
Bubba Wallace reveals what he learned from missed opportunity at Texas in 2023
Wallace, speaking with the media on Saturday, explained what he learned from rewatching the finish at last year’s race at Texas, in which he got pushed around a bit by Briscoe, opening the door for William Byron to take off and win the race.
“That if Chase Briscoe is starting on the bottom, pick the bottom, don’t let him restart on the bottom, because he ain’t gonna lift. Nah,” Wallace said, joking. “We did look at a lot of restarts though. It all starts kind of from pushing. It’s who you want lined up on your bumper pushing to give you that advantage.
“So, I think we gotta do a better job of analyzing that in the moment and calling the right shots to set yourself up. But first, we gotta have a good race, we gotta get to the end, we gotta get to the Green-White-Checkered finishes, or whatever it was, to make that all come to fruition.”
More must-reads: