“You look at us coming in and being on the bubble – 21 points out with a ton of pressure and I think the pressure just switched,” said Wallace after earning his first pole of the 2024 season. “We’re not here to mess around.”
Wallace is a driver who wears his heart on his sleeve and rarely holds back his emotions. After the race at Daytona, he called his own performance “unacceptable” and seemed defeated. However, a text from 23xi Racing co-owner Michael Jordan this week helped him to change his mindset for the better. “The things you want more, cost me,” it read. Wallace returned to the track with a new perspective and ready to leave it all out on the track.
“I showed up with a more open and calmer demeanor — more free and relaxing demeanor, but at the same time I don’t want to be messed with,” continued Wallace. “So, it’s a fine balance you’ve got to walk. I appreciate the team. We unloaded — we did some changes to the car in the spring race, and it just wouldn’t give me the right read going into qualifying. So, I told Bootie (Barker, crew chief), ‘Hey, I need to be this to have a good qualifying run’ and here we are.
“Just everybody on the 23 car and everybody back at AirSpeed. Both cars just showing up with speed at Darlington for the Southern 500 is super cool. I’ve been close here I think once or twice in qualifying, so to finally pull it out, it’s like ‘Wow! We’ve got it!’ With all that being said, the elephant in the room — tomorrow is a whole different day and I’m excited to see what tomorrow offers.”
Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry
Photo by: John K Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
A motivated Wallace showed solid pace in practice, but he was actually frustrated to not be topping the charts. He “set the expectations very high” as they set out to make up 21 points to Chris Buescher, who nearly won at Darlington. The pole is a much-needed confidence boost, but he’s not the only driver he came out of the gate swinging. Carson Hocevar and Chase Briscoe, who face must-win situations, qualified second and third, respectively.
Wallace led the way in both rounds of qualifying, but the session was far from smooth sailing. He earned two Darlington Stripes in one lap during the first round, but still went quickest of all as he bounced off the outside wall.
“So today, I’ve determined that Darlington is probably one of the, if not the hardest places to…
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