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Bubba Wallace Jr. lost the FireKeepers Casino 400 to Kevin Harvick by a margin of 2.903 seconds on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. It was a perfect weekend for the 23XI Racing driver as he won the pole on Saturday, led 22 laps and tied his second-best finish of the season with a runner-up finish.
Despite the P2 finish, the result was bittersweet for Wallace Jr. as he knew that he'd had the best chance to confirm his spot in the Cup Series playoffs.
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Speaking on what went wrong at the final restart, during the post-race interview, Wallace Jr. stated that he could have taken the top lane instead and pushed Kevin Harvick to fight Kyle Larson. He later admitted that he hates it for the team.
Wallace Jr. said:
“Could’ve taken the top, push the 4 and then I could’ve been (in Larson’s position) in that scenario, right? Just hate it. Hate it for our team. Sucks.”
He continued:
“I thought I could hang with the 4 (Harvick) and just got to racing the 5 and the 22. And the 22 did a good job of getting another Ford contract, helping a Ford win. Just all in all, an incredible weekend. Appreciate my team. Wish we could’ve gotten Toyota in Victory Lane. Wish we could’ve got McDonald’s back in Victory Lane.”
With 35 laps remaining at yesterday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, Bubba Wallace Jr. restarted on the inside of the front row alongside Harvick.
The eventual race winner Kevin Harvick grabbed the lead and left Wallace Jr. to battle with Kyle Larson and Joey Logano for second place. It proved to be a turning point in the race for Wallace Jr. to finish P2 in the end.
“I want to win so bad and this was the best opportunity” – Bubba Wallace Jr.
23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace Jr. went ahead and put his thoughts on how badly he wants to win with only three races left in the regular NASCAR season.
The Alabama native stated that his team did an amazing job this weekend, which had a lot of positives, but that he is someone who looks at the negatives more than positives. He said:
“I mean it is a hell of a job for our team, so there’s a lot of positives in this. But I’m a person that looks at the negatives more than the positives. I need to change that, but I want to win so bad and this was the best opportunity.”
Catch Bubba Wallace Jr. this weekend at the Richmond Raceway on Sunday.
