Bubba Wallace on 'the same rollercoaster' as he pushes toward the Chase

Since he joined 23XI Racing in 2021, consistent inconsistency has seemed to define Bubba Wallace's tenure as the driver of the No. 23 Toyota. 

There have been plenty of highs, including three career victories. There have been stretches of top-five finishes and earlier this season, five consecutive top-11s for Wallace to start 2026. 

But there have also been weeks where crashes have taken Wallace out of races and negatively impacted his push toward the NASCAR postseason. Wallace made the NASCAR playoffs for the first time in 2023, narrowly missed out in 2024 and was back in playoff contention last year thanks to his win at the Brickyard 400. 

With eight races left in the regular season, Wallace is in 13th in the Cup Series standings and only 55 points above the Chase cut line. His month of June was topsy-turvy: a third-place finish at Michigan, a 21st-place run at Pocono, a strong runner-up at San Diego and a 22nd-place finish at Sonoma after multiple incidents early in the race. 

"Every year, it's the same rollercoaster," Wallace said Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. "I think we've been that much better this year, so the highs are a little bit higher than before. The lows have been different. When we sat down in the offseason, myself, [crew chief Charles Denike and] Dave Rogers, we just kind of highlighted the low-handing fruits and what we needed to do."

Bubba Wallace is once again fighting for a postseason bid

Wallace said the trio decided that the No. 23 team needed to "raise its floor."

"There was a lot of potential left at the end of our bad races this year," Wallace said. "This year, I look at Nashville, Pocono, we were top 15 at best. The other races, we've had winning potential. We haven't been able to see them play through. We would have the speed and then something would go wrong. It stings a little bit more this year."

Wallace's 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick, is second in the standings and has won five of the first nine races of the season. Corey Heim, who will be full-time at 23XI next year, won his first race at San Diego. 

"To see how our teammates are winning, it's like, damn," Wallace said. "I think if we can have everything go right, we can be in victory lane too."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.