Denny Hamlin believes that Bubba Wallace will have a challenging time reaching the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after a tough finish at New Hampshire. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, the 43-year-old driver said Wallace will have to beat Joey Logano each week to have a shot at postseason driving.
“You always have to count on one more freak winner that’s outside the cut, in which case, then [Chris] Buescher becomes the next guy above the cut line,” Hamlin said. He’s substantially ahead of [Joey] Logano and Bubba. That’s where you have to look at it and say okay, we have to not get unlucky first and then we got to go beat Joey for the next seven/eight weeks.
“That’s not going to be easy. The way Logano’s been running, it’s not crazy and unthinkable, but you’re going to have to be consistently better than him over the next seven/eight weeks, and that will be a tough task.”
NASCAR released its latest playoff picture and has Wallace the first one out. With eight races remaining, the 30-year-old has a chance to qualify for the postseason if he earns a win. Wallace is due for a victory as he last won at the Kansas fall race in 2022. Wallace made the playoffs for the first time last year and finished 10th in the standings.
It looked like Wallace was going to take a big step forward last year after finishing fifth in the first two Cup Series races of the year. But due to some bad luck and wrecks, Wallace has to work even harder to give himself a chance to win a championship.
Bubba Wallace gets some great advice during slump
The one person that has been by Wallace’s side is his wife. While speaking with reporters in May, Wallace revaled the advice his wife gave to him.
“When you’re getting kicked in the, yeah, the last two weeks, the only thing you can do is look forward to a place where you’ve had a lot of success and been fast,” Wallace said. “It’s been a frustrating last couple of weeks knowing we had the speed and just haven’t been able to close out the deal. But it’s Kansas, it’s a new week.
“I was talking, I was doing some interviews earlier this week. I came home Sunday night from Dover and I woke up Monday morning and there was a candle warmer. I’m not a candle-warmer person, my wife is. I was like, ‘Nice, new candle warmer,’ and she was like ‘Did you see what it says on it though? It says ‘It’s a new day.” She was like ‘I got that for you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh thanks that’s 10 candle warmers we have in the house now but that’s okay, thank you.”
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