Bubba Wallace pranks team en route to best finish of the year

Bubba Wallace was keeping things positive even as the victory slipped through his fingertips at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. Wallace led 56 laps and earned his first top-five finish of the year, crossing the line in third behind the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman.

However, he gave his team a bit of a scare entering Turn 3 on the final lap.

“Uh, I think I got a tire down,” he radioed, but spotter Freddie Kraft and crew chief Charles Denike did not take the bait.

“Such an a**hole,” Kraft quipped.

Wallace then complimented the No. 23 team, saying: “Great weekend, good job boys, Thank you. Let’s keep doing this.”

The crew chief offered his own message of support, applauding the 23XI Racing group and Wallace: “Really proud of you. Really proud of everybody. Great work today. We did what we said we wanted to do from Vegas and that’s see the race all the way through.”

Replied Wallace: “I ain’t gonna hang my head over that one.”

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

At Las Vegas one week ago, Wallace was also very fast and led several laps before a mid-race incident damaged his car. He avoided any such drama at Homestead, running near the front throughout the race.

The radio banter was not isolated to the end of the race either. There was another humorous moment after a late-race restart when Wallace nearly lost the lead as the field fanned out three-wide around him.

“Haha! Tried to give that one way,” radioed Wallace. “Restarted in third (gear) like a f***ing idiot.”

Kraft laughed it off as Wallace maintained control over the race. “Good job, dummy. Keep driving away.”

Plenty to be proud of

Wallace now sits seventh in the championship standings after the first six races of the year. The series now heads to Martinsville where he finished fourth just one year ago.

After Sunday’s race at Homestead, he had nothing but positive things to about the strong showing. “It was really good. We showed up here in Miami and had speed. That’s the first box you want to check. We all know when you are a race car driver, you want to show up and be competitive. We were that,” he told FOX Sports 1.

“My pit crew has been on fire. A tremendous amount of work has gone into the last five years of this team to get to where we’re at. We’re not where we want to be, but we are damn sure competitive each and every stop. They got us up there, gave me a shot … I didn’t think I burned my stuff up to start that last run. I thought it was very similar to the previous restart, but I don’t know. I need to go back and study and look at what happened. Obviously, I hit the fence and allowed the 48 [Bowman] to get there.”

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

Wallace was referring to when he lost the lead with 33 laps to go. Bowman got to the inside of him through Turns 1 and 2 while Wallace got tight as he tried to run the wall on exit. Ironically, Bowman made a similar mistake later on, costing himself the lead as Larson went on to capture the checkered flag.

“All in all, hats off to my 23 group here,” continued Wallace. “It’s been a grind all year long. I’m talking like we’re 20 races in. It’s only five, whatever it is. We’ve just been getting kicked in the teeth the last stage of every race. Finally closed one out. This feels good. I can’t hang my head over this. As pissed off as I want to be at myself, it’s a good day.”