“They wrecked?”: Bubba Wallace jokes about the Daytona 500 race after finishing top 5 in the Great American Race again

23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace bagged a top-five result in the Daytona 500. He avoided the chaos that unfolded in the final laps, eliminating many contenders for the win.

Wallace took an eighth-place finish in the first stage and followed it up with a seventh-place finish in the second stage. However, during the final rounds of the green flag stops, the #23 Toyota driver wasn't fully topped up with fuel and had to drop out from the pack and hit the pit road to refuel.

This strategy mishap turned into a blessing for Bubba Wallace, as he found himself at the back of the pack, as half of the field was involved in 'The Big One' with nine laps to go for the checkered flag. Wallace's teammate Tyler Reddick was also taken out in the wreck fest.

Wallace boasted how he navigated through the chaos unscathed, emerging without a scratch on his #23 Toyota. Speaking to Peter Stratta post-race, he said:

“They wrecked? My car says otherwise, I don’t have a scratch. Maybe one (scratch)? It was an interesting race that was. I thought the big wreck would happen, like 30 laps sooner.”

Despite being fortunate to avoid being consumed by the big wreck, Wallace emphasized the need to minimize mistakes as a team to win races.

“We got lucky with that wreck because we have to come back down and fill it up and our race was over with. We gave up all that track position so that’s unfortunate but I’m so proud of the team, mistakes happen, but I told those guys already."

"The good teams win races, the teams that make mistakes don’t, so hopefully we can learn from it and just be better and see what we can do but a good way to start the year off the top five.”

In the final restart, Bubba Wallace lined up 14th and charged through the pack taking a fifth-place finish when the caution flag waved on the final lap. He recorded his third top-five finish in seven attempts in the Daytona 500.

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Bubba Wallace agrees with Erik Jones on 'frustrating' aspect of superspeedway racing

Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones voiced his frustration with how superspeedway racing has evolved into a fuel-saving race for the majority of the event, culminating in a short and frantic sprint to the finish line.

"It’s frustrating, I don’t know how to fix it. It’s really hurt the racing for sure at these tracks. It’s a 480-mile fuel-saving race and a 20-mile sprint of chaos to the finish. I wish we could race more during the day," Jones told Toby Christie.

Bubba Wallace voiced his support of Jones' opinion, as he called the #43 Toyota driver's statement "Facts" on X (formerly Twitter).

The Daytona 500 unfolded similarly, with much of the race running under green flag conditions until the drivers triggered a caution in the final laps.