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23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace recorded his second straight DNF result at Dover Motor Speedway last weekend, April 28, and dropped out of the playoff picture.
The #23 Toyota driver was involved in the scary crash in the final stage of the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway which left Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones injured. The following weekend, Zane Smith spun out Bubba Wallace in the final stage of the Würth 400 at Dover.
With two back-to-back DNF results, Bubba Wallace has dropped down to 17th in the playoff standings, two points below the cutoff. After 11 rounds in the season, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Daniel Suarez are locked into the playoffs with a win in the bag.
Meanwhile, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher are in a tight spot, holding onto a mere three and two points above the cutoff line respectively. Wallace and Brad Keselowski are in the playoff bubble, sitting two and four points adrift of Buescher respectively.
Bubba Wallace endured a tense regular season last year as he drifted around the cut-off line and could only confirm his playoff berth after the regular season finale at Daytona.
The 30-year-old Mobile, Alabama native made his first Cup Series playoff appearance last season and advanced into the Round of 12 but couldn't make further progress. He managed to put together his career-best campaign last season, finishing 10th in the drivers' standings.
With 15 races left in the regular season, the #23 Toyota driver has plenty of time to make up for the lost points. The Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway marks the regular season finale this year.
Bubba Wallace reflects on crew chief Bootie Barker's message for Dover Cup race
The #23 Toyota driver reflected on the frustrating streak of results in the last couple of weekends and how an incident in the final stage dashed his hopes for a top-10 finish at Dover.
Bubba Wallace conceded that crew chief Bootie Barker had forecasted a tough weekend for the team at Dover. Despite the challenge, the team pushed hard and Wallace contended for a top-10 result before their efforts were undone. Wallace told Fox Sports post-race:
"Just not the result we needed back-to-back DNFs, Bootie said it perfect on Monday, when I was pissed off and frustrated after Talladega he said 'Hey, we are gonna grind our a** off for Dover from practice, qualifying to the race, it's not going to be pretty.' I don't think he meant that part, wrecking out wasn't going to be pretty, we had to grind."
Wallace hopes for a quick turnaround in this weekend's race at Kansas Speedway, a track where he has won a Cup race.
