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After having a career-best season in 2023, 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace is all set to kick off the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season with a different approach and mindset. He sees the upcoming season as full of opportunity and redemption.
Speaking to NBC Sports about the past and upcoming season, Wallace mentioned the 2014 Texas Truck race, taking self-belief from his older version. He is looking to build that mindset and confidence again.
“We were running second, trying to pass Kyle (Busch) and we blew up and that ended our title chances. It was like ‘d —-, crazy,’ but what I was watching there was a confident Bubba. I feel like I’m kind of getting 2014 back, which is good for me, good for everybody,” Wallace was quoted as saying by nbcsports.com.
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Wallace didn’t win last year but made it to the playoffs for the first time. It was his best performance to date across an entire season.
Furthermore, the Alabama-born driver shed light on the importance of having a different outlook and mindset, not forcing things, and allowing them to naturally unfold.
“Having a different outlook, different mindset coming into it. You know, not trying too hard. Let everything kind of naturally come to you,” he added.
Bubba Wallace takes positive experiences from past seasons
Reflecting on the past season, the #23 Toyota driver admitted that at the start of the season, he might have focused on chasing specific goals.
“Look at what we did last year. It was really, really positive. … The start of last year I kind of chased what we we were trying to do,” Wallace said.
“We ended 2022 solid. I was trying to chase that and bring that in and not like in a natural way and there was no change to the start of our season. It’s been the same for the last three years, where, very lackluster start, one or two top fives and that’s it,” he added.
Bubba Wallace has not scored more than two top-10 results in the first 10 races of the last three seasons. In the first 10 races, his average finish was 21.3 in 2021, 20.6 in 2022, and 20.3 in 2023. This year, he is looking to change that.
Catch Bubba Wallace in action when the 2024 season officially begins at Daytona International Speedway on February 18.
