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23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace Jr. survived a messy race over the weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to score his third consecutive top 10 finish. The race marked Wallace Jr.’s first top-five finish in a road course race since the season began.
The Mobile, Alabama native has been struggling with poor performances for a while now, and his recent performances show it might be time for a turnaround.
Bubba Wallace Jr. recently swapped crew members with Christopher Bell and it seems things are moving in the right direction. Following his third consecutive successful run, he is fascinated with his performance and feels it is a good comeback for the #23 Toyota TRD.
In a post-race interview, Wallace Jr. termed the Indy track a 'cool place', saying:
“It’s a really cool place. The last couple of races on the oval we were top-10, so it’s good come back and be competitive somewhat today. I still have to do a lot of learning on these road courses, but surviving, staying in the game.”
Bubba Wallace Jr. began the Verizon 200 in 19th place and proceeded to sit in the top 10 in stage two, finishing third, behind Kyle Busch. The third stage was a bit rough for 28-year-old but the last laps saved the day. Before the game-changer caution was drawn with five laps remaining, Wallace Jr. ran 18th. Luckily for him, he was among the first drivers to make a pit stop in the final pit cycle, as after the pit road, he managed to get to the top 10.
How did Bubba Wallace Jr. perform at Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
As the cars drove down to turn one on the restart, Bubba Wallace Jr. ran into the top five before the shoving moment started and he had to take a turn through the grass. Coming back to the field, he was sitting in the ninth position.
Despite taking the corner through the grass, NASCAR didn’t penalize him since he tried to take the corner, unlike Ross and Dillon who received a penalty for an access road.
After the race went into overtime, Wallace Jr. managed to outduel Michael McDowell to take the eighth position. Defending winner AJ Allmendinger, on the other hand, wasn’t fast enough and Wallace Jr. over-muscled him, taking the 7th position eventually. Meanwhile, Logano was fading off, giving Wallace Jr. space to take the sixth place.
Wallace Jr. finished the race 6th, but following Ross Chastain’s runners-up position disqualification, he advanced to fifth place. Despite the back-to-back excellent result, he is still locked out of the 2022 playoffs.
With only 14 winners on the record, however, he still has a chance to make it to the playoffs with one win in the remaining 4 races of the regular season. He currently ranks 20th in drivers’ standings with 458 points with 0 wins and 0 poles.
