The pressure that came with trying to make the NASCAR Chasedid not take away Bubba Wallace's wry sense of humor.
When asked if there was one particular thing that happened down the stretch of the 2026 regular season for his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota team and helped him secure his third berth in the NASCAR playoffs, Wallace said yes.
"I just decided to start trying again, that's all," he joked.
It never appeared that Wallace wasn't trying in what turned out to be a rollercoaster regular season. He was way up, but never too far down.
Still, he did not secure a spot in the Chase, which begins Sept. 6 in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (4 p.m. CT,
USA Network), until he earned four points (only needing two) in the first stage of the regular-season finale at Daytona on Aug. 29.
"It was just about executing; we found ourselves (in midseason) at the wrong spot at the wrong time, and it's just hard to overcome those," Wallace said. "We found that if we finally had some green races and clean races, our finishes would follow through. That's all it is, just stay in the game, keep executing and getting out of there with a good finish."
Bubba Wallace started, finished 2026 NASCAR regular season strong
Wallace is one of six drivers in the Chase who failed to win a race in the regular season, joining Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and William Byron.
He came close, finishing second on Aug. 23 at New Hampshire, second at San Diego on June 21, and third at Michigan on June 7.
A strong start to the season, finishing no lower than 11th in the first five races, and a strong finish with the two late second-place finishes kept Wallace from ever falling below the playoff cutline.
After being 32nd at Nashville, he occupied the 15th position before the June race at Michigan, where a strong third-place finish moved him up four positions to 11th as he broke out of his spring slump.
Why Bubba Wallace believes he can win first race in NASCAR Chase
Even though he'll start near the bottom of the pack in the playoffs, Wallace believes he is capable of making some noise with the Chase beginning in Darlington. He has five top-10s at Darlington in his nine-year Cup career.
He was poised for another good finish at Darlington in the spring before contact between Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones sent Wallace slamming into the wall.
"We start at Darlington, a really good track for us," Wallace said. "We were fast in the first stage, and then got caught up in somebody else's mess, so as long as we steer clear and run a clean race, there's no reason why we can't win the Southern 500."
Why Bubba Wallace stopped listening to social media
Wallace grew tired of hearing about the slump in the spring.
So he stopped listening to social media and only recently started paying attention to it again.
"You just get away from all the BS; it's nice just to be able to focus on your job, and when you're not doing your job, you focus on your family and trying to be the best husband and father you can be," Wallace said. "With social media, you get caught up in things that you don't need or that you want that make no sense instead of enjoying the things that you have. I'm back on it a little bit, but definitely more distant than I've ever been."
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Bubba Wallace believes he can win first race in the NASCAR Chase
