Bubba Wallace on having a 'different mindset' heading into 2024 season

Following a career-best season in the Cup Series, Bubba Wallace is ready to head into the 2024 season confident and with a new “mindset.” It is no secret that the NASCAR driver has a tendency to overthink things and get in his own head. This year, he’s hoping to change that.

Bubba Wallace finished 10th overall in the points standing. While he didn’t win a race, it was his best performance to date across an entire season. It was also his first taste of the playoffs.

Talking to NBC Sports about the past and the upcoming season, Wallace noted a new confidence. And it comes from his old self.

“We were running second (at Texas in 2014), trying to pass Kyle [Busch] and we blew up and that ended our title chances,” Wallace said. “It was like, ‘damn, crazy,’ but what I was watching there was a confident Bubba.”

That confidence is something that Wallace can feel building up again. Last season, he went into the year trying to force things to much, It resulted in disappointment and DNFs.

This season, things are going to be different, at least, that’s the plan.

“Having a different outlook, different mindest coming into it,” Wallace said. “You know, not trying too hard. Let everything kind of naturally come to you. Look at what we did last year. It was really, really positive. … The start of last year I kind of chased what we were trying to do.”

Bubba Wallace knows he can run up front

When Bubba Wallace goes to a superspeedway like Daytona, Talladega, or now Atlanta – he knows he has a shot to win. But that’s been the case his entire career. Now, he has started to show his prowess on the intermediate tracks and that might be his key to taking that next step.

The Next Gen car puts on fantastic races on the 1.5-mile tracks and that is especially true for the Toyotas. Tracks like Las Vegas, Kansas, Texas, even Michigan and Pocono, are now strong suits for Wallace in his career.

That, and his improvements on road courses and short tracks, have given him reassurance that he can race up front.

“We know we can run in the top five, top 10 easily,” he said. “If you look at the second half of every season. It’s just a matter of showing up, just having fun and appreciating where you’re at. If it’s your day, it’s your day. If it’s not, then it’s not.”

Bubba Wallace and his team will try and start the season hot in 2024. If not, there is a lot of time during the season to catch up, until there isn’t. Wallace will start his season with the IMSA Pilot Challenge at Daytona before NASCAR gets going in Los Angeles and then the Daytona 500.