Bubba Wallace embraces the boos after advancing to Round of 12: 'Counted us out'

Despite starting as the 16th driver, Bubba Wallace is advancing to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Wallace was able to make the transfer after finishing third in Stage 1 and P14 overall. He knew what he had to do, and he made it happen.

When Joey Logano went out of the race, it opened the door to let other drivers move up in the standings. Bubba Wallace’s job got easier from there, but it was not a guarantee. Tyler Reddick was right there with his teammate for most of the race, working together throughout the night.

After the race which Denny Hamlin won, amid a wave of boos from the crowd, Wallace embraced the hate. He acknowledged it, but is using it to fuel him. He even referenced recent U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff.

“God I love that s**t right there,” Wallace said referring to the booing crowd. “Counted us out. Like Coco Gauff said, all they’re doing is adding fuel to the fire, I love it. Love where I’m at in this team. Wish mom and dad and my sister were here to celebrate with me. I’m in a career year. Just gotta keep it going, appreciate all the partners involved. Columbia’s done great when they’re on the car, I hate it for them last week.

“I’m mentally exhausted, I’m wore out, gave it our all there. Battled hard and executed and that’s what you gotta do. So, we know next week’s a reset and we just gotta go out and have some fun and work our asses off. Thank you to the ones that believe in me, keep it going and yeah, onto next week.”

That “shushing” gesture is starting to become a bit of his signature move whenever he proves the doubters wrong. He did it after winning at Kansas, he did it after this 500-lap Bristol race. When he faced elimination for the first time ever, he came out on top.

Bubba Wallace having a career season

There is one thing that Bubba Wallace is right about, this is a career-best season. At this point, Wallace can’t finish any worse than 12th overall on the year. His best before this season was in 2022 when he was 21st overall. It has been a major step forward for Wallace even in a season where he lacks a victory.

Moving forward, there are chances for Wallace to win. Texas is an intermediate track. Toyota has been great on these 1.5-mile tracks. Talladega is a race that he’s won before in a rain-shortened event. While I don’t think he can win at the Roval, he isn’t terrible at that road course in particular.

Even with Michael Jordan watching on the pit box, Wallace kept his composure. However, things are going to just get more difficult moving forward. He has less room for error. I think he’s been a top-10 driver in the playoffs out of the 16 drivers the made the postseason.

Now, he has to be a top-8 kind of driver. The Round of 16 was his best set of tracks from a matchup standpoint, so we will see if he can replicate this performance in the next round. Right now, it feels like every step forward is just icing on the cake.