Wallace, Chastain in tight battle for final playoff spot

This next four-race run to close out the regular season is especially crucial for 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain. Wallace is the first driver outside the Cup Series playoff elimination line, ranked 17th but only seven points behind Chastain.

The Richmond three-quarter miler hasn’t necessarily been a shining star on either of the driver’s resumes. Chastain has a pair of top-10 finishes in 11 starts with a best showing of third place (2023). Wallace has 12 Richmond starts but has never had a top 10. His best showing of 12th place came in this race last year.

Both drivers are optimistic and focused on their playoff hopes for the next month, which includes races at various tracks, including the Richmond short track, Michigan two-miler, Daytona Beach superspeedway and Darlington, a 1.366-miler.

“Definitely don’t feel safe until you’re locked in,” said Wallace, who was more than 100 points out of 16th place just a handful of races ago. “We have four very good opportunities to do that. Ran really well here in the spring. … four real good opportunities to make some headway but you know, also four good opportunities to take us out of contention so have to show up and it’s time to put it back into gear.”

Chastain has qualified for the playoffs the last two seasons, finishing runner-up to champion Joey Logano in 2022 and ninth last year.

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“Approach for me is a constant evolution,” explained Chastain, who said he enjoyed the previous two weeks off not thinking about racing. “Really no two weeks are ever the same. If I find something that’s going to help me better physically, then I do it. My weeks and my preparation are really never the same.

“We can’t try any harder now than we did before the break,” he added.

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‘Definitely don’t feel safe:’ Chastain, Wallace in tight battle for final playoff spot