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Bubba Wallace spotter Freddie Kraft reveals what he told No. 23 driver on final lap at Kansas

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones21 hours agobrianjones_93
Bubba Wallace
Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Freddie Kraft, the spotter for Bubba Wallace, broke down what happened during the final lap at Kansas. On the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Kraft was asked what he told Wallace, who was trying to hold off multiple drivers for the lead.

“I’m just looking to see where the runs are coming from,” Freddie Kraft said. “Denny [Hamlin] has got a huge run off of [Turn] 4. He’s going to the bottom. So, I told Bubba to protect the bottom, but make sure you get back up from your entry, because a lot of times, you see guys kind of block, and then they are in too shallow and miss the corner. So my biggest concern was just getting back in it.

“I didn’t know where Bubba was intending to run through [Turns] 1 and 2. We had been pretty good on the bottom. I think hindsight, I probably wish we… It’s so circumstantial because the way it played out, I wish we were at the top to make Denny’s air a little dirtier. But if we go to the top, he may just peel to the bottom, and we’re in the same position in the [Turns] 3 and 4 anyway.”

Bubba Wallace lost the lead during the final lap at Kansas

Kraft went on to say that he told Wallace he had to play defense since Hamlin was going to have a “massive run.” He then gave Wallace several options on how to hold off Hamlin to secure the win. Kraft pointed out that Wallace slightly blocked Hamlin before the two were next to each other during the final lap. Hamlin made contact with Wallace, which led to Wallace going to the wall while losing momentum and the lead.

“I don’t think anybody did anything wrong,” Kraft explained. “We had to race the 20 (Christopher Bell) aggressively because we’re trying to save our season. The 11 (Hamlin) is trying to win races for numerous reasons.”

Bubba Wallace finished fifth at Kansas. That’s a strong showing, but he needed to win at Kansas to clinch a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8. Wallace is currently 26 points below the cut line, meaning he will need to win at the Charlotte Roval this Sunday to avoid playoff elimination.