Coming off a wildly frustrating week in which he was highly competitive and did just about everything he needed to do for the playoff picture except win, Bubba Wallace is trying to recenter himself ahead of his final shot at it this week at Darlington.
He joined Dirty Mo Media and opened up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his mindset coming out of Daytona.
“There’s two sides of it coming out of Daytona,” Wallace said. “You’re bummed, you’re pissed off. You did what you were supposed to do. We outraced the 1 car and we had a six-point, seven-point cushion to him, but we had a new winner. So it’s like the goalposts moved again.”
Had Harrison Burton not won, but instead another driver who had already secured a win this season, Bubba Wallace would likely be sitting pretty in the playoff standings with a week to go.
Instead he’s now below the cut line once again.
But he’s not about to roll over and play dead with racing still left in the tank. And he’s gotten some advice from a good place.
“I had [Michael Jordan] text me and he said, ‘Things you want more cost more,’” Wallace revealed. “All day yesterday and all day, in the middle of the night, I’m telling myself you’ve just got to go out there and have the best race you’ve ever had of your life. It’s just showing up, me doing all that I can. Take out the outside factors. That’s how I’m approaching it. I woke up in a much better mood this morning.”
Bubba Wallace is trying to learn from past experiences, too. He doesn’t always fare as well when he’s on pins and needles, super stressed out over what he needs to do.
That can run you into trouble.
He explained to Earnhardt Jr. how he’ll tackle things this weekend at Darlington, playoff shot on the line.
“Last year I went into Daytona really stressed out,” Bubba Wallace said. “I think for Daytona you can get by with that, but I think if it was Darlington I would have crashed Lap 2. Taking a deep breath, understanding where we’re at. We’re not out of it by any means. If you outrun the guys you’re racing then you should beat them. But we have to do a little bit of extra work and I’m excited to roll the sleeves up and do that.”