As far as sports mottos go, it may not be the most inspiring. But coming off a career-best third place finish this past weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace isn’t so sure.
“Our motto is ‘suck less,’ ” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said. “Suck less each and every week.”
Wallace, 21, earned his third top-five finish in NASCAR’s XFINTY Series at Chicago, trailing Sprint Cup Series regulars Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, both of Joe Gibbs Racing, across the finish line.
Running just ahead of another Sprint Cup regular, Richard Childress Racing‘s Paul Menard, Wallace’s No. 6 Ford ran out of gas coming out of the final turn.
Wallace’s previous career best was a fifth-place finish at Charlotte earlier this year, a mark he equaled recently at Road America. He has 14 top-10 results in 32 career starts in the series.
Another mile-and-a-half track is on tap for this weekend when the XFINITY Series returns to Kentucky Speedway Saturday for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN).
“To come out of (Chicago) with a top five, going into these mile-and-a-halves that we’ve got coming up, that definitely builds the confidence,” Wallace said. “It says a lot. Especially going into Kentucky where we were really strong (earlier) and finished seventh or so.
“We can definitely go back, we know where we need to improve and get us another top five.”
Wallace is sixth in points heading into this weekend’s event. Teammate Chris Buescher is the points leader, with Ty Dillon (RCR), Chase Elliott (JR Motorsports), Regan Smith (JRM) and Elliott Sadler (RFR) completing the top five.
Including the Kentucky stop, five of the final seven events for the series will be contested on 1.5-mile tracks. And that’s just fine with Wallace.
“I think our only struggle point will be Phoenix,” he said of the season’s next-to-last event. “As a whole we weren’t good there in the spring and personally I am not good there. I definitely need work on that track.
“The rest of the season I think we can take this momentum and finish off strong. We need to just keep our heads up and keep digging. We can use (Chicago) as momentum … good to come out of (there) with a third-place-finish.
“Chicago … is always a great venue for me. Kentucky, Dover is redemption for sure. We always run good there. I am looking for a strong season from here.”
With the Sprint Cup Series competing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend, the only full-time Cup regular scheduled to race at Kentucky is J.J. Yeley.
Sprint Cup drivers have won four of the last five XFINITY Series races and 18 of 26 this season.
Busch led 102 laps on his way to the win and Kenseth led 84 in the 200-lap event at Chicago.
“Every team goes through phases of their strong points and they are hitting on all notes right now,” Wallace said of the JGR program. “We are trying to get there. We are close. We are about a seventh-place car each and every weekend and we need to improve on that. We are hitting on the right notes to get that process better and get where they are.
“It is going to take a bit. Those guys have been really hitting on it lately. … That is OK. I am not going to worry about them.”
Two practice sessions are scheduled for XFINITY Series teams Friday at Kentucky from 3:30-4:25 p.m. ET and 6-7 p.m. ET.
Qualifying is slated for Saturday, beginning at 4:45 p.m.