CONCORD, N.C. — Bubba Wallace competes in NASCAR as a driver for 23XI Racing. The team is co-owned by Denny Hamlin, who raised eyebrows last weekend by pushing Wallace into the wall in a last-lap quest for the victory at Kansas Speedway.
Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and was seeking the 60th win of his Cup Series career and an automatic berth into the third round of the playoffs. A win for Wallace would have put him that deep into the postseason for the first time in his career and guarantee at least one 23XI Racing driver is still part of the championship hunt when the field is cut to eight drivers with four races to go.
Although the two had a brief interaction on pit road after the race — Chase Elliott came back from 10th in a two-lap overtime shootout to nab the win in his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet after the Hamlin and Wallace incident — it wasn’t until Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that driver and team owner finally talked.
“I don’t fault Denny Hamlin for racing for the win, racing for his team and his sponsors,” Wallace said. “I get the question a lot: What’s it like racing Denny on the race track? No offense to them, but I could give two (expletive), because he’s a competitor, and he has labeled it that way.
“So that was two competitors going for a win, and so as much as it didn’t work out, I have to respect that.”
Even so, Wallace estimated that 95% of the drivers on the circuit that was an “oof” move by Hamlin, who was struggling with mechanical trouble that included his car’s power steering. It also put Wallace and 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick in serious danger of elimination from the playoffs Sunday, when four drivers will be cut from the current field of a dozen after the Cup Series race on Charlott’s hybrid road-and-oval course, better known as the Roval.
Wallace, Reddick, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain are all below the cutline in points and likely need to win to stave off elimination.
Not so fast with that strategy, though: Shane van Gisbergen may have been eliminated from the playoff field after the first round, but the rookie has won four times this season in the Trackhouse No. 88 Chevy on permanent road courses or temporary street circuits.
Reddick edged van Gisbergen in qualifying Saturday and will start from the pole position Sunday.
The second row has Ty Gibbs, who isn’t in the playoffs, starting third in a JGR Toyota, and Kyle Larson, who is in the playoffs, starting fourth in a Hendrick Chevy. Another driver not in the playoffs, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, is fifth in the lineup for the best starting spot for a Ford.
As for the other playoff drivers and their starting spots: JGR’s Christopher Bell begins seventh, teammate Chase Briscoe is eighth, Chastain is 10th, Penske’s Ryan Blaney is 11th, Wallace is 12th, Hendrick’s William Byron is 13th, Hamlin is 14th, Elliott is 15th, Penske’s Joey Logano is 17th and Cindric is 19th.
Wallace described the days since Kansas as “a somber week” and heard Hamlin say on his podcast that he would not apologize for trying to win a race.
“I hate it got to this point, the lingering effect, but Denny and I just talked 30 minutes ago, and it was a good heart-to-heart,” Wallace said. “The conversation came from a place of peace. It went better than I thought it would.”
It was the second week in a row on-track contact involving Hamlin was a storyline, too.
Ty Gibbs declined to speak to media at Kansas to discuss an on-track incident with his JGR teammate the week before that at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Hamlin grew frustrated at how hard he was being raced by a driver who had no playoff stakes.
Hamlin wrecked Gibbs, the grandson of the NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner, and asked on his team radio if everyone at JGR was too scared to have a mature discussion with the 23-year-old about racing etiquette.
Hamlin acknowledged at Kansas that he got “too hot under the collar” when he wrecked Gibbs but insisted the teammates were in a good place after internal meetings. Gibbs, because of his low ranking in the Cup Series standings, had no media obligations, and so he was able to avoid addressing the topic.
However, he was required to make himself available to reporters Saturday at Charlotte, where he entered the theater-style room and went to a back row to sit on an arm rest in a thwarted attempt to not draw attention to his presence. A gaggle of reporters circled him, and while Gibbs was polite, he wouldn’t really discuss the situation with Hamlin.
“All the other guys answered it, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Gibbs, still seeking his first Cup Series win in his third full season on NASCAR’s top level, said as he danced around the questions.
When told that Roger Penske makes it clear to his team”s drivers they cannot wreck each other, Gibbs said: “I don’t think any team’s got it 100% down.
“It’s just racing. We’re all out here racing for wins and the in-house organization, as well. I grew up around all these guys, and I appreciated them a lot, and I want the best for my team as well. So I think we’ll figure a lot of things out.”
The Roval is the sixth and final road course race of the season, and the only one in the playoffs. Four of the five previous Cup Series race winners on the Roval are current playoff drivers: Blaney (2018), Elliott (2019-20), Larson (2021, ’24) and Christopher Bell (2022).
The winner of the Roval went on to win the season championship twice, with Elliott doing it in 2020 and Larson in 2021. Hendrick drivers, though, have yet to win a road course race this season after winning at least once on road courses every year between 2018 and 2024.
Van Gisbergen has won four consecutive street or road course races this season to stamp himself as the betting favorite Sunday, but the 36-year-old New Zealander doesn’t believe a win is automatic and considers both Bell and Larson formidable rivals, as well as all the drivers still mathematically eligible to advance.
Bell was in the top five in five of the past six road course races, including three runner-up finishes and a win this year at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
“I think there’s always good people. There’s a lot of guys trying to get into the next round that will be stepping up as well,” said van Gisbergen, who was a success on the Supercars Championship touring car series back home and in Australia before coming to NASCAR. “I think obviously we’re one of the favorites, but there’s going to be some quick cars, so I really don’t see it’s going to be an easy race. It’s going to be difficult and we’re prepared well, so hopefully we’re up there fighting for it.”
Van Gisbergen can’t help but feel a little disappointed at being eliminated from the playoffs after the first round, because if he was still in contention, he’d have a legitimate shot Sunday to advance into the third round.
He scored the highest oval finish of his career last weekend by taking 10th at Kansas and believes he’s finally showing some competitiveness away from road and street courses.
“I felt like we were really getting better and hitting our stride for the playoffs, and then we had three pretty subpar weekends, actually,” he said. “I didn’t do the best I can, so I didn’t feel like it, but maybe the pressure did get to us, and then as soon as we were out (of the playoffs), we started going good again.
“It’s frustrating how it works, but it’s pretty awesome, the playoffs, and the pressure it puts on everyone. You’ll probably see some crazy stuff tomorrow with people trying to get in (to the next round), and I think it gives good storylines.”