Kevin Harvick reacts to impressive showing from Bubba Wallace, adjustment to new crew

Bubba Wallace hasn’t won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2022, but there are signs a win could be coming. Wallace is starting to string together some quality finishes.

But more important than that, he’s learning how to manage an entire race. That, according to NASCAR insider Kevin Harvick, is no small feat.

“Vegas, Homestead, both weeks. Super fast on the short run, managed a great race at Homestead start to finish,” Harvick said on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. “But that’s the whole team. And when you look at Bubba, that’s kind of been a little bit of the problem in the past, is he hasn’t been able to manage a whole day consistently all the time. And you have to be able to manage those days, because they’re all going to take twists and turns all over the place.”

On paper, Bubba Wallace isn’t doing anything outside of the ordinary just yet. He has two top-10 finishes this year, but the other four races he has finished 20th or worse.

But he’s been consistently earning stage points and has simply had some bad luck in a few races. He currently sits seventh in the Cup Series points standings, on 166 points.

It’s the improved consistency from Bubba Wallace that has been notable. Harvick explained.

“For a lot of these guys, that’s been the problem, is they can’t manage that and get the result that you should get that day,” Harvick said. “Like if you’re running eighth you need to finish eighth. You can’t lead a race and not finish in the top five when you have a car that’s capable. You have to capitalize on those days. There’s going to be some tough days where you’re running 20th and you need to finish 15th because you’ve done a better job at managing those weekends.”

Bubba Wallace and his crew have done that so far this season. It’s why he’s sporting a little cushion in the playoff standings, even though he’d love to seal the deal with a win.

Regardless, everything that happened this offseason appears to be a positive for Wallace. He’s running quite well.

“For Bubba, I think his team changes and his scenario have been really good. Very similar to what we see with Josh Berry,” Harvick said. “On the flip side you see the 6 car of Brad Keselowski and the 54 car (of Ty Gibbs), those situations haven’t meshed like the 21 and 23 have on the other side of the fence.

“We’re really starting to see, we’ve been to enough racetracks now. We’re going to another true short track this weekend at Martinsville. We’re really starting to see which teams are gelling well as you’ve gone through.”