Bubba Wallace gets 100% real on the ‘pressure’ triggered by Tyler Reddick’s success

23XL Racing star Bubba Wallace recently opened up about feeling pressured by his teammate Tyler Reddick's success. On a podcast episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, the 31-year-old discussed how the latter's performance has pushed him to better his approach in a bid to stay competitive.

Driving the No.23 Toyota, Bubba Wallace began the season with a 29th finish at Daytona, despite earning a third-place start from his Duel-1 victory. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick finished second in the race after starting at 11th.

The following races saw the No.45 driver fare better than Wallace, securing another podium finish at The Circuit of The Americas, following a pole position start. Wallace had qualified one spot behind his team mate and wrapped up the race at 20th.

Reflecting upon the same, Wallace appeared on "Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour" and got candid.

"Seeing the success of the 45, not from a jealousy standpoint but it's like 'I have the same stuff', and I feel like I'm just as competetive as Tyler. I put all that weight on me, that pressure on me. So, I'm back in the gym and nobody's telling me 'Hey, you need to workout to run better, you need to be in more meetings to understand better', I took that upon myself as like 'I'm doing just enough to get by and that's not okay'," Wallace said. (5:20 onwards)

Bubba Wallace has managed to bounce back in the last two races, finishing ahead of Reddick in both instances. In his last race at Martinsville, Wallace finished stage one outside the points. However, he chased down the field to take third in stage two, a position he held throughout the final stage to secure a podium finish.

Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick finished the race outside the top-ten at 14th. These results place the 23XL duo side-by-side in the standings, with Reddick at seventh and Wallace at eighth, seperated by a narrow margin of five points.

---

Bubba Wallace opens up about dealing with nerves during NASCAR races

Bubba Wallace recently admitted to experiencing anxiety during NASCAR race weekends. In an interview with CBS Mornings, the No.23 driver discussed his mental state and working to stay competitive despite his nerves.

Reflecting upon the demands of the sport, Wallace said,

"So the last couple of weeks I've gotten the blues, like nervous. Like throughout practice, qualifying, even in the race. I don't know why. We finished third in the last two weeks. So I'm gonna hope it keeps coming. It's working." (0:06 onwards)

The Alabama native has been on strong run lately, securing back-to-back third place finishes at Martinsville and Homestead-Miami. He qualified inside the top-ten for both the races, at eighth and ninth respectively. This turnaround in performance follows a stretch of races where he finished outside the top 20.