Sometimes you just need to re-charge the batteries.
That was the case for Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team, taking last week’s off time to reset following a rough stretch of finishes that saw Wallace place 20th or worse.
But Sunday saw a re-energized Wallace that cruised to an eighth-place finish in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the second top-10 result of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career after notching a runner-up result in the Daytona 500.
RELATED: Full Texas results
“Hell yeah, we needed that,” Wallace said. “That was a good week off for us to re-group. The guys did a hell of a job all weekend long. I thought we had pretty decent speed and a lot of people in the garage were like ‘your car is pretty good, so just don’t mess it up.’ “
Wallace heeded the advice of those individuals and did exactly that, using veteran-like prowess to stay patient over the course of 334 laps at the 1.5-mile track. It was no easy task, either, given a new tire compound and cooler temperatures, mixed with limited amounts of practice time earlier in the weekend, which made for a plenty of unknowns for teams.
After taking off 15th, Wallace hovered around his starting position throughout much of the event. But the No. 43 team wound up pitting off sequence in the final stage in an effort to get out front, one of three drivers to do so. After the final caution flew on Lap 303 for an incident involving Ryan Newman, Wallace stayed out to gain the fourth spot for the final restart on Lap 312.
The solid showing builds momentum for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender heading into his maiden voyage at Bristol Motor Speedway in NASCAR’s top series.
“Really good day for us. We had some prospects on the box, so I think that went a long way as well,” Wallace said. “But man, what a good day, what a good weekend for us. We had the mojo the whole time and (I’m) just super excited.”