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NASCAR insider: 'You have to feel for Bubba Wallace' after disappointing Michigan wreck

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones08/20/24brianjones_93
Bubba Wallace (7)
Jul 20, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) during qualifying for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports

A NASCAR insider felt bad for Bubba Wallace after he was involved in a wreck at the Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic shared his thoughts on Wallace’s performance before the wreck that was caused by Kyle Larson.

“You have to feel for Bubba Wallace. This is one of his best tracks, comes here with a lot of confidence, team’s been running really well, they short themselves up, they’re not making the same mistakes,” Bianchi said. “He seems rejuvenated, good mindset, doing all the things he needs to do on pit road. They’re executing, they come here qualify well, race well. Great move by the way to take that lead in Stage 1. …They get that late caution at the end of Stage 1, that sucked. They at least were going to finish the top two, three, maybe win the stage.

“They lose that but really put themselves in a position to leave here with a top-10 finish at a minimum if not a win. Then you get caught up in a wreck with it you had nothing to do and it starts with arguably the world’s best driver getting spun, spinning out and you have nowhere to go. He spins in your path and what do you do? There’s nothing and that is quintessential just a moment where you go we just had bad luck. It sucks, it’s unfortunate, and you go now to Daytona. Yeah. it’s one of your best tracks and you do really well in these speedway races, but it’s also a speedway race.

It was a missed opportunity for Bubba Wallace

Bianchi continued: “There’s a lot of things outside of your control where you could be impacted negatively you can’t do anything about. And then Darlington is Darlington. This sucks. This is a missed opportunity for them, this was one they had circled.”

Bianchi went on to say that Wallace looked “really strong” and will be “really thinking about” the missed opportunity at Michigan. Wallace is now in 17th place in the playoff standings but is one point behind Ross Chastain for the final playoff spot. Wallace and the rest of the drivers will compete in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona on Saturday. The last time Wallace competed at the track was the Daytona 500 in February, and he earned a P5 finish.