Bubba Wallace pulls no punches on Daytona 500 mistake: "I should have known better not to block"

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Bubba Wallace reflected on his effort in last Sunday's Daytona 500 in a recent interview. After leading 18 laps and running up front for the bulk of the race, the driver of the #23 23XI Racing Toyota was caught up in a late-race crash and finished 29th.

In comments brought to light by FOX NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass on X, the Alabama native looked back at the moves he made late in Sunday's 200-lap event that put him in the position he was in. After a conversation with his spotter, Freddie Kraft, the 31-year-old came to the conclusion that he should've done a better job of guarding the top lane of the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

"I should've known better to not block the top because the pace is too fast and Freddie should've known better. We're sitting there texting and then he said, I don't even think I replied back, but he said, 'You know who we blocked at the top, right? The 24, and look who won the race.' You never know with those races now. It's tough to finish how we did knowing the speed and performance we had in our car, but just wasn't meant to be," Bubba Wallace said. (0:06 onwards)

William Byron, the driver of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, won the Daytona 500 for the second straight year, becoming just the fifth driver in history to win the event back-to-back times.

Wallace enters the 2025 season amid his fifth campaign behind the wheel of the #23 machine, a car that's co-owned by 54-time Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin and retired NBA legend Michael Jordan. Wallace has two career wins, both coming with 23XI Racing. He picked up his first career win in a rain-shortened race at Talladega in October 2021, and later picked up his second victory at Kansas in September of 2022.

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Bubba Wallace rolls off 14th in Sunday's Ambetter Health 400

The NASCAR Cup Series circuit returns to action on Sunday for the second race of the 2025 season, the Ambetter Health 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. For Bubba Wallace, he'll look to bounce back after crashing out in last week's Daytona 500 when he starts from the 14th position.

Prior to 23XI Racing, Wallace fielded the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet for three seasons. Amid his first full-time season in 2018, Wallace finished runner-up in the Daytona 500 to Austin Dillon. Despite some strong runs, Wallace didn't win with RPM.

Bubba Wallace also has six wins in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with the bulk of them coming when he was behind the wheel of the #54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. His last win to date in the series came at Michigan in 2017.