NASCAR: Bubba Wallace sticking with his goal for 2021
By Asher Fair
Bubba Wallace set a goal to win at least two races in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. He still believes that goal is attainable.
Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing haven’t had the best of starts to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, but they aren’t in a terrible position as the second half of the 26-race regular season gets underway.
It took Wallace until the season’s 13th race at Dover International Speedway to record his first top 15 finish of the season when he finished in 11th place. Prior to this race, only three other full-time drivers had failed to record a single top 15 finish, and they all drive for Rick Ware Racing or StarCom Racing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. still annoys Martin Truex Jr.. light. Must Read
But while the growing pains with the new organization were quite evident to get to that point, there is definitely progress being made.
Wallace sits out of a playoff spot in 23rd place in the point standings, 84 points below the cut line, with 12 races remaining in the regular season.
More from NASCAR Cup Series
- NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
- NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
- NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
- NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
- NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500
A 21st place finish in the driver standings would be a career-high for the 27-year-old Mobile, Alabama native through his first four seasons as a full-time driver. But he is still aiming for much more than that.
Before the season started, Wallace set a goal to win at least two races driving for the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned team, which have a technical alliance with the four-car powerhouse Toyota team of Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite having yet to record a top 10 finish, he is sticking to that goal. He thinks a multi-win season is still possible.
“I do,” Wallace told Beyond the Flag after talking about his new partnership with Chilisleep. “I’m still holding that pressure on myself. Just gotta get everything aligned.”
He noted that the upcoming schedule should play to his and his team’s benefit.
“Charlotte is obviously a good track,” he said. “It’s been a good track to me for a while with the cars coming up. But really any place that’s coming up. Road courses are obviously kind of a bit of struggle for me, but we’ve done some things internally to help with that. … COTA and Sonoma are kind of almost back to back, so when the road courses are done and out of the way, we’ll focus back on the oval stuff. Really got a lot of good tracks coming up for us.”
Next. Top 25 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark
This Sunday evening’s race, the Coca-Cola 600, is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET.