Bubba Wallace largely had a good night on Saturday night in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona, outscoring Ross Chastain in championship points, but got bumped off the playoff grid anyway thanks to a Harrison Burton upset that will soon move him to the Round of 16.
As a result, Wallace (and Chastain) faces long odds to make playoffs at -21 (and -27) below Chris Buescher.
So now, Wallace either needs to win the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday or he needs Buescher to have a bad day early in the race. This, all after he did what he needed to do in finishing fifth at Daytona. He articulated that point to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast Tuesday.
“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.”
Wallace said he was inspired by a piece of advice given to him by Michael Jordan, who co-owns his No. 23 team alongside NASCAR contender Denny Hamlin.
“I had MJ text me and he said, ‘Things you want more cost more,’” Wallace said. “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.”
He knows what he needs to do and it’s either going to happen or it’s not.