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Bubba Wallace Makes Eye-Opening Admission About Past Effort in No. 23 Car

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kyle Dalton | Last updated Mar 30, 2025 11:49 PM ET

Bubba Wallace has heard the comparisons to his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick. It’s hard not to when the teams have publicly admitted the Nos. 45 and 23 cars are identical in their setups, which resulted in the former recording three wins in 2024 and advancing to the Championship 4 while the latter missed out on the playoffs altogether.

This season, through the first seven NASCAR Cup Series races, the two cars have posted similar results as far as finishes are concerned. Reddick has three top 10s, including a pair of top fives – his best a runner-up in the season-opening Daytona 500. In addition, he’s got two results in the teens and a couple in the 20s.

Wallace also has the same number of top 10s at three, including a pair of top fives. He’s earned a pair of third-place finishes in the last two races at Homestead and Martinsville. Unlike Reddick, the 31-year-old driver has been involved in a pair of crashes at Daytona and Phoenix and has posted four finishes in the 20s.

In 2025, Wallace has a new crew chief in Charles Denike, who worked with Christian Eckes in the Truck Series last year. That new driver-crew chief pairing has helped produce the positive performance early in the season, which has everyone taking notice.

During FS1's pre-race show at @MartinsvilleSwy, @BubbaWallace made a surprising admission about his past effort in the No. 23 car and how @TylerReddick inspired him to change. pic.twitter.com/O1ARp4mqMW
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) March 31, 2025

On Sunday during the FS1 pre-race show, Kevin Harvick sat down with Wallace and talked about the start to the 2025 campaign and how the No. 23 team is performing. During that conversation, the driver made a surprising admission.

“Seeing the success of the 45, I took that upon myself as like I'm doing just enough to get by and that's not okay,” Wallace told the Fox analyst.

And the results are clearly showing early in 2025.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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