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Bubba Wallace heads to Watkins Glen on the bubble of the NASCAR Playoffs. The driver of the No. 23 Toyota, who is still looking to notch his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, will be fighting for a spot in the postseason over the next two races.
Wallace currently occupies the final spot in the Playoffs Points Standings, though he'll need solid performances in the last two outings of the regular season to hang on to the playoff berth.
The No. 23 team driver has historically struggled on road course layouts. However, he looked solid in qualifying this weekend at Watkins Glen. Read on to see what position Wallace will be starting in Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen NASCAR race.
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What Is Bubba Wallace's Starting Position At Watkins Glen?
Historically, road course tracks have been a weak point for Bubba Wallace. Over 24 career Cup Series starts on this track type, Bubba has an average finish of 24.8 and has posted just two top-10 finishes (compared to 17 finishes of 21st-place or worse). That means that this current two-race stretch of road course races isn't the best thing for Bubba Wallace's Playoffs hopes.
Coming into Watkins Glen, he's 28 points above Daniel Suarez for the final spot in the Playoffs, but we saw last weekend at Indy Road Course that Suarez can gain a bunch of ground in a single race.
Unofficial playoff bubble (2 left):
14) Kevin Harvick: +145
15) Brad Keselowski: +143
16) Bubba Wallace: +28
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17) Daniel Suarez: -28
18) Ty Gibbs: -49
19) Chase Elliott: -80
20) Alex Bowman: -80
21) A.J. Allmendinger: -87— Austin Konenski (@AustinKonenski) August 13, 2023
The good news for Bubba fans is that he has actually shown some decent speed at Watkins Glen this weekend, posting the 14th-fastest lap in practice while qualifying in 12th place for Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen. A top-15 effort this weekend will go a long way in keeping Wallace's Playoffs hopes alive, though he can't afford to take his foot off the pedal over the next two weeks.
