Bubba Wallace: 'Hard to be happy' after late mistakes cost him Phoenix win

It looked like Bubba Wallace was in prime position to snap a 46-race winless drought in the NASCAR Cup Series and win Sunday's Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix until two costly errors turned his race upside down. 

The first was from crew chief Charles Denike. Wallace, who led 52 laps and appeared to have the fastest car on the racetrack in the final stage of Sunday's race, came down pit road with the rest of the field after Kyle Larson brought out the final caution of the afternoon with 33 laps to go. 

Pit road mistakes derailed Bubba Wallace's day at Phoenix

While many of the frontrunners went with two tires or stayed out, Denike opted for a four-tire change. Wallace, who came into the pits in first, went out ninth. 

Clawing his way back to the lead would've been difficult enough, but Wallace was then hit by a penalty for speeding, which took him out of contention entirely. He finished 17th, a disappointing result on a day that appeared to hold so much more in the cards. 

"Our team is so good at finding all the gray areas to operate in and find our limits," Wallace told USA Network. "I think I exposed that a little bit too much around the corner. Corner pitting is really, really tough. To see the lack of visibility you have. I was trying not to run through too many boxes but also not give up too much time because you do speed up through those sections. 

"When you cut too much distance, it adds up to a speeding penalty. I hate it for our team. This 23 group has worked so hard all year long. No results to show for it, or we come up just short. It's frustrating. It's super hard to be happy right now. It's been really fun driving Toyotas this year, but I just can't seem to close the deal out."

Wallace, who scored his first career win at Talladega in October 2021, should be in contention once again at the 2.66-mile Alabama superspeedway next week.