Bubba Wallace on restarts moving forward: 'I'm not going to try anything'
Bubba Wallace isn’t too sure what the NASCAR restart rules are now after his boss Denny Hamlin got away with jumping one at Richmond. He knows how he’s going to handle it, but as far as what NASCAR will do, he isn’t sure.
Could NASCAR let drivers jump the restarts slightly again? I’m sure that they easily could. However, it feels like someone is going to slip up and the sanctioning body will make them pay for it.
Bubba Wallace isn’t sure if the rules are the same or not. He just knows he’s going to stick to doing what he usually does. There will be no testing of the limits for the 23 car.
“Thought I did. Once the car crossed the plane, you’re free to fire whenever,” Wallace told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, smiling. “Now that’s changed, I don’t know. I’m not going to try anything. Because somebody’s going to do it and they’re going to make an example, unfortunately, and that’s going to be the topic for next week. So, there’s nothing I need to change because I know where the line is.”
As far as some kind of timing line or what Denny Hamlin could have done differently, Bubba Wallace weighed in on that as well.
“Yeah potential,” Wallace continued. “I think Denny said he was watching Logano get closer and closer and closer, right? Okay, well what if he waited until the very end of the zone, Logano has to slam brakes, right? Go then, right? So, I think it’s just a timing thing, right? Yeah I’m just going to keep doing what I continue to do.”
I think the last thing on Bubba’s mind is Richmond right now. He almost won the pole, but was edged out by Kyle Larson by one-thousandth of a second. Still, firing off P2 at Martinsville, Wallace hopes to come away with a strong finish.
Bubba Wallace qualifying standards have gone up
In the 2021 season, Bubba Wallace only made the top-10 in qualifying three times. In 2022 he was able to make it nine times, including a pole. Then in 2023, he was in the top-10 17 times during the season including another pole award.
After qualifying P2 on Saturday, Wallace has earned a top-10 starting position five times in eight races. On short tracks like Richmond and Martinsville, that is almost unheard of. He was also in the top-10 at COTA, a road course, historically his worst race tracks in the Cup Series.
Since his two top-5 finishes to start the season, Wallace and the 23 team have faltered. Just two top-15 finishes in the next five races. He has to start finishing races. Last week he should have been in the top-5, top-10 at worst. A bad pit stop cost him all kinds of track position and he finished P13.
With another great starting position, Bubba Wallace has to take advantage of it. He will fire off next to Kyle Larson, a great short track racer. We will see if he can contend for the win today at a track that has meant a lot to him in his NASCAR career.