Bubba Wallace will work with Chase Elliott road course spotter at Richmond

With Freddie Kraft out after the passing of his father, Bubba Wallace will work with Trey Poole in his ear as his spotter for the Cook Out 400. Poole, who spots for Chase Elliott on road courses as an additional spotter, has plenty of NASCAR experience. Wallace and Poole are going to have a great starting spot in P5.

For practice and qualifying, Nick Payne worked with Bubba Wallace. Payne is the spotter for Tyler Reddick. However, the two 23XI Racing drivers were in separate groups and it worked out for the best. Reddick took the pole while Wallace gets a top-5 spot.

Moving forward, it will be Poole working with Wallace, according to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. At least until Kraft comes back. For Richmond, the substitute spotter will try to get Wallace as many points as possible, and maybe even pull off a shocking win on the short track.

Trey Poole, who works as an additional spotter for Chase Elliott on road courses, will spot the Bubba Wallace car Sunday at Richmond. https://t.co/4aSU1l3XXI

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 29, 2023

Given his history at the track, Wallace is off to a great start so far. He has never finished in the top 10 at Richmond. This feels like a big breakthrough for Wallace and we aren’t even to the race yet.

Prior to his qualifying session today, Bubba Wallace had never qualified better than P11 with an average start of P24. For him to secure a top-5 spot at this track is a testament to his improvements over the years.

Bubba Wallace will try to earn career-best mark at Richmond

We know that Wallace is strong on superspeedways. In the last few seasons, he’s really picked up speed on the 1.5-mile tracks. He finished in the top-5 at Kansas, Darlington, and Charlotte. However, the improvement on the short tracks has been the biggest story. His P9 finish at Martinsville and P8 at New Hampshire might be more impressive.

27 points above the cutline in 15th, Michael McDowell is 10 points behind Wallace with the 16th and final spot in the playoffs right now. McDowell will start P18 and AJ Allmendinger in 17th will start at the rear after missing qualifying for the Xfinity Series race.

However, Wallace should watch out for Ty Gibbs. The rookie qualified P7 and has shown he is a good racer on the Richmond track in his Xfinity Series career. If Gibbs were to get an upset win, it would change the playoff race.

Bubba Wallace will try to win on Sunday as he and his teammate have one of their best qualifying sessions of the year as a team. Even with a substitute spotter, Wallace will be a factor in this race.