Kevin Harvick weighs in on Bubba Wallace: ‘Wheels have just fallen off’

Kevin Harvick relayed some concern for Bubba Wallace during the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The No. 23 Toyota team started the season hot, but it’s been a struggle over the last couple of weeks, and now they find themselves wondering where they’ll go from here.

“I think the thing that’s surprised me about Bubba is just how well they started the season. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, this No. 23 team is going to be on fire,’ and the wheels have just fallen off of the No. 23 car,” Harvick stated, regarding Wallace. “From a speed standpoint, we’ve seen it. He showed up at Chicago and he had all the issues that he had in qualifying, and the dumb move in the race there with the No. 48. Took himself out and cost himself a bunch of points.

“It’s just been really, really all over the place, for not only the No. 23, but the No. 45. The No. 45 hasn’t done anything that we expected him to do, from a speed standpoint, race standpoint. They’ve been off. We talk about the lawsuit and things like that, but they’ve just been off, compared to where the No. 23 started, and the No. 45 never even had that shining moment yet.”

At the moment, Wallace is hanging onto the playoffs by a thread, three points above the cut line. However, a win from someone below him in the standings isn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially with some unpredictable track types coming up before the Round of 16.

Bubba Wallace: Playoffs of bust?

Additionally, three points isn’t a very solid cushion. He could easily be jumped by someone else as soon as this coming week at Dover International Speedway. At least that’s one of his better tracks on the schedule.

So where does Wallace have to go from here? Well, the easiest solution would be to win a race. However, that’s easier said than done. He hasn’t done so over the past couple of seasons, and it’s led to him missing the playoffs. Expectations have grown, and that won’t be an acceptable result for him this year.

As Harvick alluded to, Wallace’s teammate in Tyler Reddick has also underperformed a bit this season. He won the regular season championship in 2024, and made the Championship 4. However, he doesn’t have a win in 2025 just yet. Perhaps the ongoing lawsuit with NASCAR has affected all 23XI Racing teams.

Regardless, the spotlight will be on Bubba Wallace moving forward, as the NASCAR Cup Series moves forward this summer. We’ll see if he can get back to Victory Lane, or if more questions arise regarding his future.