2026 has been more of the same yet much different for Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace described part of his 2026 season as "the same old s—, different day."

On the other hand, the Mobile, Ala., native's refreshed mentality helped the No. 23 team, which is used to teetering on the edge of NASCAR's postseason cut line, hang onto a Chase berth. 

"Being able to manage it a little bit better has made it less of a roller-coaster ride," said Wallace, who is the No. 14 seed of 16 Chase drivers ahead of Sunday's Southern 500 at Darlington. "Still the frustrations of having fast cars with crap results – that is still there. Falling tremendously in the points, getting back on the cut line. All of that stuff kind of hit the replay button, but kind of how you went through it has changed."

Bubba Wallace's topsy-turvy season

Wallace started off the season red-hot, finishing no worse than 11th through the first five races of the season and sitting second in the standings behind his 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick, in March. Then he went on yet another roller coaster of a stretch, collecting seven top-10s and seven finishes of 25th or worse over the next 21 events. 

Wallace has also had several near misses at a win this season, most notably the two races at Atlanta — on July 12, he incurred a 27-point penalty that wiped out a second-place finish and a potential top-10 Chase seed — and New Hampshire, where a late bobble allowed Ryan Blaney to hold on and win. 

And so here sits Wallace, 14th in the standings and 90 points out of the lead, in an in-between tier of Chase drivers where he's neither a contender nor an afterthought. 

There's been an underlying sense since NASCAR unveiled the new Chase format in January that the eventual champion has to come from the top six in the standings. But Wallace thinks he and the No. 23 group can beat the odds if they put together clean races. 

"The same people that say that say you can’t really chase numbers because you get lost in translation," Wallace said. "If you put together the best 10 weeks for us and you do that better than the rest – who knows if that propels us to a championship, because we are 90 points behind, but if you outperform the rest of the group, then who knows."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.