NASCAR: 3 more potential surprise winners for 2021
By Randy Smith
Possible surprise winner No. 3 – Bubba Wallace
Never say never, right? Bubba Wallace finds himself in a interesting position this season. He came into the year with a lot of offseason hype after he was named the driver of the #23 Toyota for the newly formed 23XI Racing, co-owned by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.
In his first year behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota, Wallace has had his ups and downs. He is set to have a career-best points finish, as he currently sits in 21st place in the standings.
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With his fifth place finish at Pocono Raceway, he has matched his career-high mark in top five finishes this year. But with his career-high mark being one, a mark he set three times prior to 2021, he’ll be looking to improving upon that.
The downside of Wallace’s first year with the newly formed Toyota team is the lack of top 10 finishes. His only top 10 finish is that aforementioned top five result. At this point last season, he had already secured four top 10 finishes driving the #43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports.
It might be expected for a new team with a new driver to have growing pains, even if Jordan did say that he “doesn’t sign checks for losers”. However, there is still a chance for Wallace to become the 2021 season’s ultimate surprise winner. His best chance should come in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
He has shown promise in superspeedway races, having taken his first career stage win at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this year, and he has a career-high finish of second place at Daytona International Speedway in 2018 as well as a fifth place finish there last year.
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Some short tracks throughout the playoffs such as Martinsville Speedway or Bristol Motor Speedway may also be worth mentioning as well, as Wallace has won twice at the former in the Truck Series and secured a top 10 finish at the latter in the Cup Series last year. But with a win being his only chance to get 23XI Racing into the playoffs, his best shot is the last race of the regular season.