Bubba Wallace says he 'feels good' about playoff chances ahead of Pocono

Right now, Bubba Wallace is fighting for his playoff chances. He’s above the cutline in 15th place, but not by much. If Wallace wants to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the first time in his career, he will have to earn it lap by lap. The goal is a win, but points racing is on the table.

Wallace is battling against drivers like Daniel Suárez, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, and others. Let’s not forget that Chase Elliott is still without a win and 60 points behind the cutline. So, things could get interesting quickly in the last six weeks of the regular season.

Ahead of qualifying at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, Bubba Wallace talked to the media about his paths to the postseason.

“Yes. Yes for sure,” Wallace said about points racing, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “We had that conversation going into last weekend. It’s like, I hate points racing, it’s always bit us in the butt, but we gotta start doing that. I think you look at that, we’ve had speed. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a winning car, but we’ve had speed to run in the top-5 for sure. Just haven’t executed to do that. Gotta put it all together, get points and get us a win and we’ll be good.”

As far as Bubba Wallace is concerned, he’s in a spot to make the playoffs. It just isn’t a “good” spot.

“No, I feel good about it,” Wallace continued. “We’ve been fast enough. Think it takes everything to win one of these things. We gotta keep doing our part, keep putting our name in the hat and it’ll turn around for us to get our win. But we’re in a spot, I can’t say a good spot because we’re in by what, two points? But we just gotta continue to work hard and we’ll be fine.”

Bubba Wallace, speaking before qualifying Saturday, says he feels good about making the playoffs on points but they will have to take the strategy that will earn them stage points if need be at Pocono. pic.twitter.com/wGOR1o22hV

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 23, 2023

Bubba Wallace falters in qualifying

Practice and qualifying were a mixed bag for Bubba Wallace. He was quick in his group for the practice session. It looked like the Toyotas were finding speed as they usually do at Pocono. However, things started to shake out over the qualifying rounds.

Wallace made the final qualifying round. He looked like he was a threat to win the pole, actually, something he hasn’t done since Michigan last season. With all the speed he had on his first qualifying lap, the final round would be for naught.

As Wallace came around the track, he touched the wall in Turn 1. After the contact, he kinda shut it down and made his way into the garage area. The good news, Wallace didn’t need repairs to his No. 23 after the contract.

Bubba Wallace will start P10 today at Pocono Raceway. He will try to earn points and contend for a win even with minor damage to his car.