Holding the final playoff spot entering last year’s regular season finale, Bubba Wallace would later confess that he was “stressed out to the max” during the week.
As he enters Sunday’s regular season finale the first driver outside a playoff position, Wallace says he’s in a better frame of mind even if he could miss the playoffs.
“I think in the station we’re at now compared to let’s say this was Daytona last year or Bristol, the cutoff race, I have no stress compared to those last year, and I think that’s for the better,” Wallace said this week. “It’s allowing me to focus on the important things and the right things and everything we need to do to succeed.”
He credits the advice he’s gotten from many, including co-owner Michael Jordan, who texted Wallace after last weekend’s race at Daytona that “things you want more, cost more.” Last year, a phone conversation with IndyCar champion Scott Dixon helped Wallace late in the regular season in his playoff push.
“I think it’s about perspectives,” Wallace said of advice from such champions and others. “These guys and gals have been in similar situations, kind of around the pressure or the stress side of things. It’s the way they manage and come out on the other side. So I think it’s just offering their insight and often their perspective is a way that you didn’t think of before, which helps.”
Wallace said such messages have resonated this week after Harrison Burton’s victory secured a playoff spot and knocked Wallace out of a playoff position going into Sunday’s Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA Network).
“I was pretty damn frustrated after the race Saturday and then (Tuesday) I set that aside and was ready to go,” Wallace said. “ … I think that’s where things are a little different for me now.
“A year ago, hell even six months ago, of carrying that frustration all the way up until the next race started, instead of really letting things go and focusing on what’s important throughout the week to set you up for the weekend ahead, that’s kind of what I’m trying to do and be better as a person there and that all comes from the help from other people.”
It would be easy to think there would be more pressure on Wallace to make the playoffs this year after doing so last year and with teammate Tyler Reddick in position to win the regular season championship Sunday night. Wallace says he’s not far from doing what Reddick has done.
“I look at the last, I think, seven or eight races, we’ve executed very close to how (Reddick) has and our results show that,” said Wallace, who has five top 10s in the last seven races.
While Darlington has always challenged drivers, Wallace has found success there. His four consecutive top 10s there tie William Byron and Brad Keselowski for the longest active streak. But Wallace said a top 10 won’t be enough to make the playoffs for a second year in a row.
“It’s a win scenario,” he said.
Wallace enters 21 points behind Chris Buescher for the final playoff spot. Buescher was leading at Darlington late in the May race when contact from Wallace’s teammate, Tyler Reddick, damaged both cars and allowed Keselowski to take the lead with nine laps to go and win. After the race, Buescher confronted Reddick on pit road.
Had they had not the contact, Buescher was headed for his third consecutive top 10 at Darlington.
Buescher’s recent run there makes outscoring him by 21 points a challenge, thus the focus on winning for Wallace.
“Lot of work for us to do,” he said. “I said it last year, when we feel we’re backed into a corner, our team responds really well. We’ve just got to continue to do that.”
2. Special moments with a special win
So what does one do after celebrating a win at Daytona?
When the plane carrying members of Wood Brothers Racing returned to Statesville, North Carolina, early Sunday after Harrison Burton’s win, team co-owner Eddie Wood went to get something eat.
He stopped at a Waffle House in Elkin, North Carolina, on his way to his Stuart, Virginia, home. It was after 4 a.m. and he was the only customer in the restaurant at the time.
A day unlike any other in recent years for Wood ended with a plate of sausage and a plate of scrambled eggs “covered, diced and peppered” along with a side of hash browns facing him. He washed it down with a vanilla Coke, noting that if you ask, they’ll add a shot of vanilla to a Coke at the Waffle House.
So much had to happen before Wood arrived at that restaurant, but there was a sense of foreshadowing ahead of the race that Burton would win. One just had to notice the signs.
Consider:
The final four numbers on the chassis that Burton drove was 0333. Or as those who worked on the car called it: “Triple Earnhardt” for Dale Earnhardt and his No. 3 car. Since the win, the team had the car decommissioned. It will never race again. Instead it will head for the team’s museum in Stuart, Virginia.
The day before the race, chief financial officer Kim Wood Hall, was going through files on her computer when she came across an older one and opened it. The file featured the logo for when the Wood Brothers won their 100th Cup race. It had been made shortly after Ryan Blaney earned the team’s 99th Cup win in 2017. The logo noted that the team had won in seven consecutive decades. Hall told Jon Wood, team president, that when they won next the logo would need to be changed to eight consecutive decades.
As Eddie Wood got on the plane Saturday for Daytona, he received a text from a friend who restores cars, including the 1976 Mercury David Pearson won the Daytona 500 with in that memorable door-slamming finish with Richard Petty. Wood’s friend sent him a picture of the car, which is in a museum in Nebraska, saying he would see the car later that day. The friend ended his note by telling Wood the team would win that night.
All day Saturday, Jon Wood’s 8-year-old son, Bailey, kept saying that Burton was going to win the race. Jon Wood said his son never does that. But Bailey could not be stopped Saturday. Said Burton: “I didn’t even need a pep talk because I was told that I was going to win a ton.” Bailey even told Burton that he would give him $20 when Burton won. As they celebrated on the frontstretch, Bailey went to his dad, got $20 and gave it to Burton.
3. Missing on 2025 schedule
For the first time since 1996, NASCAR will not have a race in Southern California, a market series executives covet.
NASCAR raced at California Speedway in Fontana, California, from 1997-2022. Part of the track’s land has been sold and the 2-mile track was expected to be turned into a short track.
NASCAR has not announced any specific plans for the track, which is located about an hour from Los Angeles. California Speedway is not likely to be ready until 2026 or 2027.
With California Speedway off the schedule, NASCAR kept its presence in Southern California by moving the Clash to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event had been there since 2022 but NASCAR did not extend its three-year contract with the facility beyond this year. The event will move next year to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps told told Fox Sports ahead of this year’s Daytona 500 that NASCAR would be racing in Southern California in 2025. Phelps told NBC Sports in March that officials looked at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as a possible site. Sports Business Journal reported this week that NASCAR is looking at San Diego for a possible street course event as early as 2026.
At least for next year, Southern California will be without a Cup race.
“Our goal is really to be in Southern California long term,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue & racing innovation officer.
“We’ve continued to work on our plans for Fontana. We have a number of different configurations and variations that the team has been working on for what the track might look like and what are the kind of other activities that can happen on that parcel of land that we have here.
“But then also exploring all of our opportunities in the Southern California market.”
4. Time flies
The first time Chase Elliott competed at Darlington Raceway, he won the Xfinity race as an 18-year-old series rookie.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years,” Elliott said. “Just crazy how fast time’s gone. I remember it like was yesterday, to be honest with you.
It had been a really cool week. We had just come off the win at Texas. Heck, I don’t know that I knew what to think at that point in time. You know, ignorance was bliss for sure when you’re 18 and skipping senior year to go race at Texas and then go to Darlington.
“It was crazy. Couldn’t have asked for anything more at that point in my life and it was just a lot of fun to sit and think back on it. Really tough place. Unfortunately, I feel like we’ve done nothing but get worse (he laughed) as time has gone on there, but the last couple of times have been a little better.”
Elliott heads into Sunday night’s race with a chance to win the regular season championship. Tyler Reddick enters as the points leader. Kyle Larson is 17 points behind Reddick. Elliott is 18 points behind Reddick.
“With everything that happened in Daytona, we’re not in a great spot on the regular season thing,” Elliott said. “We’re going to have to have a really good weekend to get back into the hunt to at least win it.
“Certainly some good points on the line for us if we can have a good day. Thinking about that some, but truthfully I really admire the Southern 500 and have always really loved that race.
“I think it’s one of the coolest races on our schedule. From a driver’s standpoint, Darlington is such a hard racetrack to drive. The gratification, I think, you would get from winning at a place like that I would have to imagine would be really, really cool. More than anything, outside of the points, I would just really like to go and try to add my name to that list. If we’re doing that, then the points situation will certainly pretty much fix itself.”
5. Numbers to Know
5 — Active drivers who made the playoffs last year but are not in a playoff spot going into Darlington. They are Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain.
8 — Different winners in the last eight Darlington races. Those winners are: Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.
9.5 — Average number of pit stops by the winner of the last eight Southern 500s.
11 — Consecutive years Kyle Busch has made the playoffs. He must win the Southern 500 to make the playoffs or his streak will end.
98 — Harrison Burton’s first Cup win came in his 98th career start. That’s exactly how many races it took for William Byron to win his first Cup race. Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson each won their first Cup race in their 99th series start.