Bubba Wallace airs out Pocono frustration, looks ahead towards recapturing momentum in Atlanta

Bubba Wallace was off to an awesome start during practice last weekend at Pocono. He was among the fastest in practice, and seemed primed to make a run at the pole, and the win in the Great American Getaway 400.

Well, that all changed in short order. Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota didn’t start in qualifying, and he wasn’t able to make a lap. Then, his brakes gave out on him during the race on Sunday, and the Mobile, Alabama native had to settle for a P36 finish.

As he looks to get back to the playoffs and win a race this summer, Wallace is turning his attention towards tonight’s race in Atlanta. He shed some light on his mindset entering the Quaker State 400 before the green flag drops on Saturday.

“This past weekend was very difficult,” Wallace told Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “Pocono is a place we’ve been to where you don’t, for me, put in a ton of sim-work, but you hit on certain things and you feel good about it. You show up in practice and you do those things, and your results show. We’re second. We were really fast. That confidence, getting out of the car in practice, going into qualifying, haven’t had that in a really long time. Right as I’m about to climb in they’re like, ‘Car is dark.’ I’m thinking we’ll just jump it off, right? The No. 12 had the same issue. That was the most frustrated I’ve been in a long time. It was like a gut punch, really hard to swallow.

“It took me back to like a few years ago, where it’s like, ‘Here we go.’ You know, you ride on the momentum high, and then you get excited and have some optimism, and you’re just smacked in the face with something, some BS. I woke up Sunday, it’s a new day. New opportunity. Was excited to move forward at the race, to take our time. Didn’t move as forward as fast as we would’ve liked, but knew it was going to be a grind, and then the brakes just broke. Found out what we could do to help mitigate that. Long story short, it was a frustrating week. Super frustrating Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

“I was able to come down and play golf yesterday with some McDonald’s people. Had a lot of fun. Was able to kind of just escape from racing for a little bit. That helps. Now, we’re back on track. You can’t change the path. Focus on what’s ahead. I hope my car starts. We’ll get out of this little slump that we’re in and get back on track.”

Alas, Bubba Wallace will certainly have a shot to contend in Atlanta on Saturday. He’ll roll off P24, but he finished P9 at the track earlier this season. We’ll see if another top ten is in the cards for the 23XI Racing wheelman.