Bubba Wallace details performance shift with 23 XI heading into NASCAR playoffs 

Bubba Wallace discussed his mindset heading into the playoffs after an 'emotionally relaxed' last couple of weeks. Wallace described a 'switch' that brought back the pressure and intensity of the post-season.

Wallace's Brickyard win lifted a 100-race winless streak, and along with it, the pressure of making the playoffs. At this point last year, Wallace was outside the top-10 in points, while his 23XL Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, had won the regular season championship.

This time around, Wallace was locked into the playoffs with four rounds to spare. Nonetheless, there was no stopping the No.23 driver, as he posted a dominant 123-lap lead at Richmond before succumbing to a pit road mishap.

Looking ahead, Wallace sat for an interview with The Teardown podcast and said,

"Last month has been really, really nice. Just mentally relaxed, emotionally relaxed, not having to stress about making it on the playoffs, right? And, you know, Sunday after Daytona though, there was a switch."

"There was a switch back to like, oh, okay, here's here's the playoff pressure kicking in. Here we go. And so I'm excited to constantly dial the imaginary hand, turning that pressure switch up as I'm turning it back down, right? And trying to live to where it's even level the whole time," he added. [2:48:48 onwards]

Bubba Wallace currently sits five spots ahead of Tyler Reddick in the playoff standings. Moreover, he holds a playoff point more than the reigning champion, Joey Logano.

Next up, the Alabama native heads to Darlington Raceway for 367 laps around the 1.366-mile track.

---

Bubba Wallace optimistic about Round 1 of the playoffs

Bubba Wallace went over his chances for Round 1 of the playoffs and remained confident. In his previous outing at Darlington, he showed pace and qualified fifth, but ended up outside the top 20. Bristol has been more or less the same in terms of results, while he hasn't yet made it through the top-20 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Reflecting upon the same, Wallace said (via aforementioned source),

"Darlington's decent. Lost a little bit of mojo in spring. Got to find that. Bristol, I've always struggled there in the spring, but I mean, fall, we finished third. A really good car there. So, I like the first round. [2:52:55 onwards]

During his 2023 playoff run, Bubba Wallace opened his title bid with a top-10 finish at Darlington. Wallace made it to the Round of 12 and came close to a win at Texas Motor Speedway. He began on pole and led an impressive 111 out of 267 laps, but could only muster a P3 result.

He was eliminated in the same round and finished the season ranked tenth. The 31-year-old has never had a multi-win season, but has won in two of the ten tracks in the playoffs, at Talladega and Kansas.