Bubba Wallace details battle on playoff bubble ahead of Nashville: 'It's hard, man'

Sitting at 15th in the regular season points standings, Bubba Wallace is right in the midst of another battle on the playoff bubble. The end of the NASCAR regular season is not far away.

Bubba Wallace and his team have to start landing solid results. That means earning stage points and running in the top-10. Darlington was the last time that Wallace found himself in the top-10 this season.

At Nashville, Wallace talked about the struggle on the bubble. It is not a comfortable place to be, but the driver knows his team is close to hitting on the right setup. All it takes is one race.

“It’s a little bit of both [speed and handling]. Like I’ve tried to come into this year way more prepared than I have been, studying more film, being more attentive in the meetings, asking, I would think more of the right questions, but just asking more questions in general,” Wallace said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “It’s hard, man. We’re fighting for thousandths of an inch. That’s what it’s all about and I say we have enough smart people on our team.

“Well, there’s a lot of teams in this sport that have a lot of smart people. So, you’re going up against the best of the best and that’s what makes you show up the following weeks is when you do get beat, you’ve got things to work on and it’s the competition side of things. So, as much as we’re off, it’s not much, but it’s just enough to keep us working hard and trying to find out what it is to get back to where we ran last year.”

Bubba Wallace has struggled to get himself into the top-15 in the last month. Finishes of P21, P20, P17, and P34 have not helped with that situation, either.

23XI Racing expects both cars to make the playoffs. Plain and simple, that is the expectation. At the moment, only Tyler Reddick is locked into the postseason. Eight more races until the playoffs, means Wallace has to kick it up a notch.

It would be disappointing after finishing 10th last season to not make the playoffs in 2024. It is all going to start with qualifying for this team. That is the best way to earn points and get an edge on the other bubble drivers.

Without strong qualifying runs, it’s hard to pick up stage points in the first stage. That can put you anywhere from 1 to 10 points behind the drivers you are in a points battle with. If qualifying starts to get better, this team can make a serious run for the playoffs. If not, then it’s going to be a disappointing year.