In his first XFINITY start at Bristol Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace ran in the top-10 for a majority of Saturday’s Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 but lost two positions in the final 13 lap shootout causing the rookie contender to take the checkered flag in the 12th position.
“I just couldn’t get through one and two,” Wallace said. “I played a conservative role in practice and that bit us. Most of these tracks we go to I’m constantly tuning on what I need in practice, well, this time I was kind of thinking ahead and got us too tight. We never could get on the other side of the fence, so we’ll take this. We’ll go to Richmond and have some fun.”
After leading Roush Fenway Racing’s qualifying efforts on Saturday morning, the No. 6 Ford Ecoboost Mustang lined up in the seventh position for the 300-lap race, but the Tennessee native was too tight on the first run causing him to lose a couple of spots.
As the race progressed, the Roush Fenway Racing driver stated that his Ford started out tight on the short runs but as the run progressed his Ford would loosen up.
When the final yellow flag was displayed on lap 281, crew chief Chad Norris called Wallace to pit road for four tires and a wedge adjustment to help the Ford’s drive on the short run.
The Rookie of the Year contender restarted in the 10th position but in the closing laps lost a few positions to take the checkered flag in 12th place.
Wallace is currently fourth in the NASCAR XFINITY Series point standings just 22 points out of the lead as the series heads to another short track Richmond International Raceway next weekend.
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