Bubba Wallace fifth-place finish is a season-best for him. It was also the first top five and top 10 for the new 23XI Racing team, co-owned by Denny Hamlin & Michael Jordan.
Wallace was excited to race in front of a packed crowd at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
“Good to have y’all back,” he shared on social media prior to Sunday’s race.
"Today shows what we can do."@BubbaWallace records his first top-five finish of the year, and the first top-five finish in team history for @23XIRacing. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/RU6ORogpzk
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 27, 2021
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“All in all, really solid weekend. Great day for DraftKings, their first race on the car. First top five for the team. I think that’s a little pen to the paper action there to re-sign, re-up there,” Wallace said following his race.
“We wanted playoffs when we started the season so we’ve got a lot of work to do. We know we’re in a hole. But it’s finishes like this that we need to capitalize on.”
Bubba Wallace added Michael Jordan is a realist, although the 23XI Racing is continuing to improve.
“[Jordan] understands. Everyone talks about how he’s a winner, he’s a champion, yeah, but he’s also a realistic person. He wants to win, but he knows what it will take for us to get there. It’s more from me, it’s from the team, it’s a more group effort.
“We executed the way we should have. I applaud [the team], everyone back at the shop for getting the numbers right and everyone at the shop for building the car right to be able to do that.
“A racer wants to win and if it’s got to save fuel to win, then hell yeah, I’ll do it. I’m not going to go against what the engineers are saying up top. You tell me what to do and I’ll execute that.”
Wallace was able to save enough fuel to make it the full distance. only he, Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece were able to save enough gas to make it to the end.