44 races! That’s how long Bubba Wallace has been waiting to return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, he finally appeared to have Chase Briscoe within reach, with a late charge putting the No. 23 Toyota firmly into the win battle. However, Briscoe’s car proved just strong enough to keep Wallace behind, forcing him into one last desperate gamble. Wallace tried to catch Briscoe sleeping in Turn 1, but the aggressive move backfired and ended his last-gasp bid for victory.

“I just try to r- replay every scenario, and, uh, his car was just good enough to keep that buffer out in front of us, and I tried to make one last charge at him, catch him sleeping in 1, and it just didn’t work and got super tight, and, uh, that ultimately played a, paid a price on our front tires,” Wallace said in a post-race interview.

Bubba Wallace had worked his way into a genuine fight for the win, but his path to Victory Lane was anything but straightforward. The No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota had been sent to the rear earlier in the race after an equipment-interference penalty on pit road, when a tire from Wallace’s pit box forced a member of Austin Dillon’s crew to jump over it.

That meant Wallace had to spend much of the afternoon recovering rather than simply racing for position. Despite the setback, he steadily moved back through the field and eventually put himself among the leaders. By the time the final green-flag pit cycle arrived, Wallace was one of the drivers with a legitimate shot at Briscoe.

Briscoe pitted at the end of Lap 216, with Wallace following him onto pit road. When the cycle settled, Wallace remained within a few car lengths of the No. 19, setting up the late battle that had seemed unlikely earlier in the afternoon.

With roughly 30 laps remaining, Wallace made his first major attempt to take the lead. He lunged at Briscoe, but the No. 19 slammed the door. Wallace was forced up the track and lost nearly a second in the process.

The missed opportunity did not end the battle. As the leaders encountered slower traffic with about 20 laps remaining, Wallace stayed close enough to keep Briscoe under pressure. Tyler Reddick then joined the fight, creating a four-car battle for the lead as Kyle Larson also began closing rapidly. Larson eventually moved into second with 11 laps to go, leaving Wallace to fight for the win from behind.

Wallace knew the long-run speed of his Toyota could give him one final opportunity. Instead of waiting for Briscoe to make a mistake, he tried to create one himself.

That was the moment he was referring to when he said he tried to “catch him sleeping” in Turn 1. The move did not work. Wallace’s car became tight, and the aggressive attempt took a toll on the right-front tire. He said the tire began to cord and the car fell off significantly in the closing laps. By then, Briscoe had enough of a cushion to keep Wallace from making another serious challenge.

Wallace eventually finished eighth, 11.422 seconds behind Briscoe after completing all 267 laps. It was a strong recovery considering the penalty, but it was also a frustrating result because the win had briefly looked attainable.

The eighth-place finish earned Wallace 39 points and left him 10th in the Chase standings. With Larson finishing second and extending his lead to 40 points, Wallace remains 137 points behind the championship leader with five races left.

For Wallace, though, Las Vegas offered something more important than the standings alone. After starting the afternoon from the rear because of the penalty, he fought all the way back into contention for the win. He just needed that final gamble in Turn 1 to work. It didn’t.