On the strength of back-to-back third-place finishes at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, Bubba Wallace finds himself in the eighth position in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings heading into this weekend's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
The driver in his fifth season with 23XI Racing is enjoying the best start to a season, through seven races, in his eight-year NASCAR Cup Series career. A big part of that success can be attributed to how well the driver has gelled with Charles Denike, who moved over to 23XI Racing as his crew chief this season after several seasons as a crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
While the speed on track has been nice so far this year, Wallace, Denike, and the No. 23 team have no intention of resting on their laurels.
"All signs are pointing upward," Wallace said in an exclusive interview with Racing America On SI following the announcement of a new primary sponsorship partner, Robinhood. "It's nice to have some results to follow up with the effort that we're putting in, but it's a long season. [You] Can't get complacent gotta keep it going. We have a lot of good tracks coming up. Darlington and Bristol coming up for sure are two [tracks] that we're excited for. It takes a whole army to make everything happen for our race team, and it's nice to see it all being put together."
While Denike has stepped in and hit the ground running as Wallace's crew chief this season, many were curious how the pairing would hit the ground running together as Denike had never served as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series prior to the 2025 season.
Wallace says he had no worries about Denike's transition to the Cup Series, and expected him to be a quick study as the 23XI Racing and Airspeed, the team's state-of-the-art facility, are designed to help get new team members up to speed.
"I think the biggest adjustment was for Charles to figure out where he can fit in, and start to grow," Wallace explained. "The good thing about that is the culture and the workplace that we provide at Airspeed are beneficial for people to learn fast, and efficiently. That shows with the results of our winning the Duel at Daytona, which was big for us [and] running top-five at The Clash, so, we started off the year with a bang and really haven't let up since then, but the luck hasn't gone our way. But I think for me, [the biggest thing] is putting the trust in the team, allowing them to make the decisions that they think are best to elevate our program to new levels."
And a new level for the program has certainly been reached in the early portion of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. After seven races, Wallace is eighth in the championship standings. In his four previous seasons at 23XI Racing, Wallace had an average points ranking of 19.75 after the opening seven races of the year.
It's a staggering difference, and one that could make all the difference if Wallace finds himself in the situation he's been in over the last few seasons -- trying to point his way into the Playoff field.
"Yeah, I think so. At this point, in the last couple of seasons, we were already back to 18th or 20th in points. And so, while there were moments in the previous years where I felt like we gave up some extra points here and there, I don't think we've done that," Wallace said. "Or if we have it's been more so the mistakes that I've made. It's been nice to just run good and get as many points as you can because you never know what can happen."
However, Wallace feels with how he and the No. 23 team have been producing on track this season, there's a chance that his Playoff hopes won't rest on how many points are accrued.
"You keep putting our name in the hat, eventually, it'll be pulled out," Wallace stated. "I believe in that whole-heartedly."
Wallace, who became a father for the first time last October, seems more calm, cool, and collected than he's been at any point in his NASCAR career, and it comes at a time when his performance, or lack thereof at times, has been lambasted by 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin.
As Tyler Reddick worked his way into a Championship 4 berth a season ago in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Wallace failed to make the Playoffs. The team owner didn't shy away from the fact that he was disappointed that the No. 23 team wasn't consistently battling for wins and championships like the No. 45 team had been.
With the public criticism from Hamlin last season being on the record, it truly felt like the 2025 season was a make-or-break year for Wallace. But for Wallace, feeling like his career is on the line is nothing new. Instead of wearing his heart on his sleeve, and wallowing in the words of Hamlin, Wallace embraced the criticism and has made a concerted effort to be sharp.
"Honestly, I've treated every season like a make-or-break. So, you just show up and give it your all each and every race all year long, and where you stack up. But that's how it goes, that's what you have to accept. I appreciate all of the comments, criticism, and feedback to keep us going. But yeah, it's a long journey and you have to find the good in every little avenue that you come across."
Someone who has found the good in the avenue the No. 23 team is on so far this season is Hamlin. After the Cook Out 400 last Sunday, a race that Hamlin captured his 55th career win in, Hamlin had high praise for Wallace and the No. 23 team on his Actions Detrimental Podcast.
"The 23 team deserves a shout-out as well," Hamlin said. "Bubba's performance throughout the day, they continue to just get better and better like we've been saying for the last few years. Between Charles [Denike] leading that team and Bubba, they've just really stepped up this year and are running great."
Wallace will now look to keep the momentum going this weekend at Darlington Raceway, where he sat on the pole last Fall. While Wallace had a rough start to his NASCAR Cup Series career at the 1.366-mile speedway, the 31-year-old has found his groove at The Lady In Black recently.
The driver of the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE has finished inside the top-10 in four of his last five starts at Darlington, including his career-best Darlington Raceway finish of fifth, which he achieved in the 2023 Goodyear 400. After two consecutive podium finishes leading into this event, Wallace will look to snatch his third career NASCAR Cup Series win this weekend.
The NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway is set for Sunday, April 6. The race will be televised on FS1, and will be streamable on the FOX Sports App with a valid television provider login. TV coverage of the event will kick off at 3:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.
