"He's still probably frustrated with himself" - Denny Hamlin ponders Bubba Wallace's playoffs situation

Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on Bubba Wallace's Cup Series situation. The 23XI driver is still to make it into the playoffs this season and as things stand, he has a steep slope ahead of him.

Frustrations continue to mount on Wallace as he sits behind Alex Bowman who occupies the final playoffs spot with 51 points between them. Winning the last eight regular-season races left is pretty much the only thing he can do to close that gap.

The recently concluded Ally 400 race at Nashville Superspeedway fetched Wallace 31 points after his seventh-place finish, but he is still in 15th place with 448 points, 27 ahead of Chase Briscoe (16th) and 22 behind Joey Logano (14th).

Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing, said in a media conference:

"I think he's still probably frustrated, with himself at times, with the team at times, but I think he's doing a better job of not outwardly showing that. I just think that comes with maturity and I think he's maturing." [04:54]

"Certainly, with some guidance with team, we've tried to help them, guide them through those tough times that you're always gonna have, but I mentioned to him this week that you got just a handful of races that we gotta get done and it certainly means a lot to us to make the playoffs and certainly to him to make the playoffs," he added.

The 2024 season has been frustrating for the 23XI driver as he was collected during the race on multiple occasions, most recently in New Hampshire. In the process, he lost innumerable points and drifted away from his playoffs chances.

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Bubba Wallace: 'We need to dig deep and have heads together'

LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE - JUNE 23: Noah Gragson, driver of the #10 Overstock.com Ford, and Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DraftKings Toyota, spin after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 23, 2024 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

As Bubba Wallace faces uphill battles on the road to playoffs he wants to avoid being collected and see his race jeopardized. Besides this, he also spoke about how his team, 23 XI Racing, wasn't performing on all cylinders (via Fox Sports):

"We're missing a little bit from last year," Wallace said. "We've just got to really dig deep, throw our heads together, we have a lot of smart people in our team."

Bubba Wallace faces three DNFs from this season, apart from six top-tens and three top-fives under his belt in 2024. He is 216 points behind the leader and in all his 19 races and thousands of laps, he has only led 35 laps combined.

Wallace's average start position is beyond tenth place and finish position beyond 15th. His best finish was in North Wilkesboro where he came runner-up to Ty Gibbs.