In motorsports, it is often said that what makes a championship-caliber race team isn’t the performances put forward on the days where everything is going right, but rather the outcome of the events in which everything seems to go wrong.
A massive triumph last weekend in the Brickyard 400 locked Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. That win, which allowed the No. 23 team to hit the pressure-release valve heading into this weekend, could have easily been the difference between a dismal result and a sixth-place finish on Sunday at Iowa.
Wallace spent a significant portion of the afternoon running in the mid-field, hovering between a spot just outside the top-10 and 25th through the first two stages of the event. However, with a string of cautions and restarts to start the final stage, Wallace was on the receiving end of some contact that altered his race.
On a restart during the race’s final stage, Wallace and John Hunter Nemechek made contact. That bent the right-rear toe link on the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE and forced 23XI Racing to bring Wallace down pit road under caution to address the issue, losing two laps in the process.
“I was just relaxed the whole time,” Wallace said after the race. “It was interesting to see how things shake out. We had an up and day. I was ready to just debrief the whole car mid-race and figure out what we needed to do to just wholesale it.”
Luckily for the 31-year-old driver, that wasn’t the end of the cautions by any means, and those in front of him that were only one lap off the pace continued to earn their laps back, and even Noah Gragson, who was two laps down, managed to get back on the lead-lap.
At Lap 272, Wallace got the first of his two laps back when Ty Dillon spun on the frontstretch. When another quick caution was displayed for the side window falling out of Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 (at Lap 282), Wallace found himself back on the lead lap.
The Mobile, Alabama-native was called to the pits by his crew chief Charles Denike, and with fresh Goodyear tires and some adjustments, Wallace began his pursuit to the front of the pack, with 64 laps remaining in the Iowa Corn 350.
Utilizing the fresh tires on his No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE, Wallace made up an incredible 26 positions on the final green-flag run, thrusting himself into the top-10 late in the going, and driving by a couple of cars in the final laps to secure a sixth-place result.
“Just continuing to give feedback and these guys using all of their tools that they have to get our Alltroo Camry right, and it felt really good that whole time there,” Wallace said after making the incredible climb. “It was interesting to see where it would go, and man it really hung on there. Appreciate all the hard work, that was a massive team effort all day.”
It’s not a victory, but after being two laps down with a wounded racecar, a sixth-place finish continues to show what Wallace and 23XI Racing are able to do when put into a difficult position.
“It’s interesting how a win last weekend just totally changed the mindset and keeps you in the game when you’re down and out, two laps down. So, all in all, really good day, I’ll take it. Everybody’s head is in the same spot and everything is clicking, right now.”
In the run up to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Wallace will have to tackle Watkins Glen International, Richmond Raceway, and the always unpredictable Daytona International Speedway. Then, it’s on to Darlington Raceway for the beginning of the post-season.
“I said earlier this weekend that we have to expose our weaknesses, and I think we put everybody to the test today. It will be nice to see where we did fall, because I didn’t see anything there. Just a hell of a team effort.”