Bubba Wallace parks in Noah Gragson’s pit box after getting wrecked by Gragson at New Hampshire
With less than 40 laps to go at New Hampshire, Noah Gragson spun out and took Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon with him. These NASCAR drivers are learning how these wet weather tires work and Gragson lost control.
Bubba Wallace is now going to fall below the NASCAR Playoffs cutline. He was in position to put Joey Logano down a handful of points at the very least. Now, Wallace is down to Logano in the points.
Gragson lost it on the apron, went up the track and a number of cars were collected.
Bubba let Gragson know how he felt afterward, too.
Noah Gragson just lost it. He hit the apron, which was where a lot of speed was on the wet weather tires. Drivers have had to adjust to the tires on the fly. New Hampshire is the fastest track that these tires have been used at in an actual race.
As for Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon and everyone else involved, wrong place and wrong time. Plain and simple. NASCAR can get like that at times and today, it bit those drivers in the tailpipe.
This season, the 23 team started out so strong. With a good amount of points built up in the first six weeks of the season, it felt like a trip to the playoffs was coming. Ever since Texas, things have fallen off for Wallace’s group.
A P34 finish is not what Wallace needed. He has to get into the top-10 on a consistent, weekly basis if he wants to make the postseason. If not, it will be a disappointing step back for the driver after finishing 10th last year on the season.
Bubba Wallace earns another DNF
The one thing that hurts bubble drivers more than anything, DNFs. Joey Logano went laps down to the field, but since he kept it on the track, kept turning laps, he’s going to get more points than Wallace and pass him in the standings.
Bubba Wallace now has three DNFs. All of those have come in the last nine races. Not a stat that a driver in Wallace’s position wants. The first part of the season and the lack of DNFs is a big reason why he was ahead of the curve early on.
Since that Texas race, where Wallace was P7, he has fallen off. Only a single top-10 finish in the nine races since Texas. For a number of drivers, things are not clicking in 2024 and there are so many reasons for that.
Bubba Wallace has his day end early. The 23 team is trending in the wrong direction. It will take a big run at the end of the regular season to get back to the playoffs.