Bubba Wallace reacts to falling just short at Homestead-Miami

Bubba Wallace came up just short in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing third behind Alex Bowman and race-winner Kyle Larson.

Wallace missed an opportunity at getting to Victory Lane for the first time since September 2022 but still put together his best race of the 2025 season. That feels good for Wallace, who was in desperate need of a quality run.

“It was really good,” Wallace told Jamie Little of FOX Sports. “We showed up here in Miami and had speed. That’s the first box you want to check. We all know when you’re a racecar driver you want to show up and be competitive and we were that. We fired off the race just OK and it really made me think our balance was similar to what we’ve had the past two years and we’ve just been average. So, I was just praying for track position.

“My pit crew has just been on fire. Tremendous amount of work has gone in the last five years of this team to get to where we’re at. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re damn sure competitive each and every stop. They got us up there and gave me a shot, and our Columbia Toyota Camry was just gamechanger.”

Bubba Wallace fast at Homestead, picks up top 5 finish

Wallace was fast — real fast. He led a season-high 56 laps, second among drivers (Ryan Blaney led 124). He had some early frustrations with Joey Logano and Austin Cindric but by Stage 3, was in position to compete for the win.

Wallace emerged from pit road first on Lap 213 and cleared Kyle Larson on the subsequent restart to take the lead. But on Lap 235, it was Bowman who raced past Wallace. The 23XI Racing driver never got back in the mix but for a driver who had four finishes of 20th or worse entering the race, this was still a good day.

“Got our front and I don’t think I burned my stuff up,” Wallace said. “To start that last run I thought it was very similar to the previous restart, but I don’t know. I need to go back and study what happened. Obviously, not hit the fence and allow the 48 [Bowman] to get there. But all in all, hats off to my 23 group here.

“It’s been a grind all year long. … We’ve just been getting kicked in the teeth the last stage of every race but finally closed one out. This feels good. As pissed off as I want to be at myself, it’s a good day.”