LEBANON, Tenn. — Costly mistakes have hindered Bubba Wallace in recent weeks, and the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota had more to overcome with a pit-road speeding penalty early in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Entering “Music City,” Wallace had dropped five positions in the Regular Season Championship standings over the previous three races to 12th. The damage could have been worse with three straight DNFs.
While battling in the top 10 amid a caution-free opening stage, Wallace sped entering pit road on Lap 44. The No. 23 Toyota went a lap down, missing out on the free pass at the conclusion of the stage to 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbst.
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With the help of a flurry of cautions in Stage 2, Wallace propelled up the leaderboard after getting back on the lead lap. He was able to reach 18th position at the conclusion of the stage, directly in front of his other 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick.
Rookie Cup Series crew chief Charles Denike played the strategy flawlessly during the final stage, as Wallace found speed in his car. He leaped a handful of competitors during the final green-flag pit cycle, closing on William Byron for fifth place as the laps dwindled.
When the checkered flag flew, Wallace was sixth; his first top-10 result since the end of April at Talladega Superspeedway. It was his best overall finish since earning consecutive third-place results in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.
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“God almighty, it was a great day,” Wallace said in relief. “I hate that we got our speeding penalty. I thought I ran my lights [on the dash]; we can go back to the shop and double-check it to see if I messed up. It’s frustrating because I knew our car was fast. It was nice to methodically carve our way through the field and make passes.
“I’ll never understand strategy. I thought we were pitting from 12th, and they were like that’s fourth and fifth in front of you and I’m like, ‘How the hell did that happen?’ It was a good night.”
The speeding penalty was Wallace’s third of the 2025 season, barely past the one-third mark. He knows how detrimental it can be to recover from such a penalty. He also knows it can do wonders for the No. 23 team by rebounding to a respectable showing as the season progresses.
Sitting 12th on the playoff grid with a 54-point buffer above the elimination line, Wallace sees glimpses of the potential that 23XI has built. He is one of six drivers to have 100 stage points through the opening 14 races of 2025. However, the team has bled points in the final stage, as his 19.7 average finish ranks 21st in the field of full-time drivers.
“After those back-to-back top-three finishes, I was expecting it every week,” Wallace said. “I think that may have jinxed us. I have the utmost confidence in this team to continue getting finishes like this on a consistent matter. Not the bouncing back and forth that everyone is used to for the 23. We had [expletive] luck the last month. I’m glad May is over with. We will go on and see if we can continue clicking momentum.
“Getting our morale back and confidence back is big for us. We knew we could do it; we just needed to close it out, execute, and we did it tonight.”
Aside from winning, the next goal for the No. 23 team is to pad its cushion over the elimination line. It begins next weekend at Michigan International Speedway, where Wallace has experienced the highs of a runner-up finish in 2022 and the lows of three of his four finishes with 23XI being 18th or worse.
