There are four crown jewel events that stand above all the others in NASCAR, and Bubba Wallace already has a victory in one of them, prevailing over Kyle Larson to win the 2025 Brickyard 400.
But what about the Daytona 500? The 23XI Racing is no stranger to the front of the pack at superspeedways, and earned his first Cup win at Daytona’s sister track — Talladega Superspeedway in 2021.
In the 500, Wallace has been strong as well, coming agonizingly close to hoisting the Harley J. Earl trophy twice before in his career. In 2018, he finished second in his Daytona 500 debut, and recorded another runner-up finish there a few years later in 2022.
That year, he was even closer to the win, touching the left-rear fender of race winner Austin Cindric as they crossed the line, finishing the race just 0.036s shy of a Daytona 500 victory.
A sign of good things to come?
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Photo by: Getty Images
Sunday will mark Wallace’s ninth start in the 500, and he is already feeling confident due to certain ‘signs’ that he has been getting.
“I feel really good about it,” said Wallace during Daytona 500 Media Day, who was smiling and laughing as he answered various questions. “Getting a lot of signs that it’s going to be a good weekend, so don’t ask me what said signs were, but they were good ones. I feel good about our chances, we’ve obviously grown and matured as a team from last year and from the start of 23XI and the start of the 23 team we’ve grown in a lot of spots. To come into this year more confident and more focused. We’ve just got to dot our I’s and cross our t’s, I think I say that every year here at Daytona 500 media day. We just have to put it all together.”
As for what those signs could be, perhaps he’ll divulge more if he does go to Victory Lane at the end of the weekend. But part of it has to be how well he and his 23XI Racing team are working together after several years of growth.
“Just the communication, you feel more confident in each other and that continues to evolve and grow over the years,” commented Wallace. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Year 1 or Year 20, you learn something new about the people you work with every day. It’s just being more comfortable and putting that all together.”
Taking 23XI to the next level
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images
He also believes 23XI has the potential to ‘disrupt’ the Big 3 teams (Hendrick, Gibbs, Penske), and for good reason. 23XI Racing made it all the way to the Championship 4 and won the regular season title with Tyler Reddick in 2024. Last year, 23XI was one of just four teams beyond the Big 3 to get their drivers to Victory Lane.
“We want to put our name in that category, and they are really passionate about that,” said Wallace. “We had a great leadership meeting a couple weeks ago that emphasized on a lot of key notes and it was a big reflection of all of us in that room. So just high expectations. It starts with waking up with the right attitude and being present and being on time and giving it your all every day. How can you be better than the previous day. It’s understanding that mindset and adapting to that is going to be huge for us. Just keep pushing.
“This sport is really hard, the big three have been around for awhile. Key people come and go and they insert their philosophies. We are still growing but we’ve already done some pretty cool things in a short amount of time and we have to keep pushing for more.”
That all begins with Daytona this weekend, and Wallace is clearly confident as the sport’s biggest event rapidly approaches.
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