A race at Watkins Glen and another at Daytona and that is all! The round of 16 for the playoffs will begin soon and every Cup Series driver out there is feeling the urgency of the hour. Those who are stuck inside the bubble have just one motto; win to get in. However, it is easier said than done as everyone is giving it their all to either make it to the playoffs or secure their positions outside the bubble including Bubba Wallace.

The 23XI Racing driver is mathematically yet to secure his place in the playoffs. Just one dangerous move or one bad restart or a win for the drivers outside the top 16 could hamper his chances significantly. Unfortunately, the start at The Glen hasn’t quite helped his cause.

Bubba Wallace disappointed after the qualifying race at Watkins Glen International

As the qualifying laps started for Sunday’s Go Bowling at “the Glen”, the drivers were divided into groups and the fastest five of each group would move to the final round. The five fastest drivers of the first group were William Byron, Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, and Denny Hamlin.

The five fastest drivers of the second group featured AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson, Corey LaJoie, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Busch. Bubba Wallace came just two spots after Rowdy. Although a seventh position is pretty decent for 23XI Racing, Wallace shed light on the one factor that he felt was bringing him down over and over again. And no, it is not his pit crew.

Even after completing his qualifying laps in an impressive time of 1:10:946, Wallace did not move on to the final round. As a result, the Toyota driver will start from the 12th position in Sunday’s race.

After the qualifying laps were over, Bubba told a reporter, “God Almighty, it’s frustrating!”

It was agonizing for the Alabama-born driver as he expressed his disappointment. Wallace said, “What you don’t want to have is a top race car and then you’re set behind, you get no laps in practice, no laps in qualifying. The biggest thing for me is seat time,”

In the process of venting out, Wallace also admitted his struggle on road courses and how he could replicate how impressive Tyler Reddick has been. He said, “6 years of sucking at road courses isn’t fun!I just wish I could go out there and pick up a half second and match the 45 [Reddick].

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He continued, “I really struggle through 2 and 3, just trying to grip through the confidence through there has been our biggest struggle every time we come here in this car so, gotta get that figured out,” While Wallace realized his mistakes, his form has been impressive lately. In fact, Indianapolis race winner Michael McDowell too acknowledged it recently.

Michael McDowell felt threatened by Bubba Wallace prior to the Indianapolis win

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It is safe to say that not many expected Michael McDowell to win at the Indianapolis road course last weekend. While he did that, he secured his playoff position which didn’t look that likely prior to the win. In fact, he was quite intimidated by Bubba Wallace’s run in the Cup Series.

Speaking on the podcast “Actions Detrimental” with Denny Hamlin, McDowell expressed his relief. He said, We knew Bubba was going to go to Pocono, Michigan, those places. We knew that we have a shot at winning stages and winning the race, these three weeks coming up.”

McDowell continued, “We knew it was going to ebb and flow. Bubba did a great job executing those three weeks. He was like 50-something points ahead, we’re like ‘Aww man! We’re going to have to kill it! We’re going to have to crush it to make that up’. The win definitely help eliminate a lot of that stress.”

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This does mean Wallace is heading in the right direction. However, he doesn’t have much time and it is imperative for him to have a good finish at The Glen if not a win. What do you think? Will he be able to hold his playoff position by the end of the race on Sunday? Let us know in the comments below.