TALLADEGA, Ala. — Camera crews are omnipresent around Bubba Wallace, one of NASCAR’s most well-known drivers who’s been regularly featured in various documentaries either on himself or the sport. Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway was no different, this time with a Netflix crew following Wallace around as part of a docuseries it is filming on the Cup Series playoffs that will debut in early 2024.

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So as Wallace got out of his car following Sunday’s playoff race, there stood the production crew poised to capture his reaction. Except now was not the right time, so he politely asked them to keep their distance. He needed a moment to himself and to speak with crew chief Bootie Barker privately, away from the microphones.

It had been that kind of day for Wallace and 23XI Racing.

Talladega was supposed to be where he took a big step toward advancing to the third of four rounds in these NASCAR playoffs. The track is among his very best, and the idea of him leaving with a win on Sunday was realistic. At a minimum, it represented a good chance to earn a bevy of points that would provide a bit more comfort entering next week’s elimination race at the Charlotte Roval, a style of track that isn’t necessarily his forte.

However, Wallace did not win on Sunday. Nor did he earn any stage points. Instead, he finished 23rd while Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag and locked up his spot in the next round. That result dropped Wallace further below the cut line entering the Round 2 elimination race, moving him from 2 points back to 9.

Following the penalty to the No. 4 car, here is an updated look at the playoff standings. @RossChastain is now -10. pic.twitter.com/cX1HmeRYxu

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 2, 2023

This was a missed opportunity for Wallace, something he seemed to sense in the immediate aftermath of the race.

After a short chat with Barker, he walked around the No. 23 Toyota a few times, shaking his head, seemingly crestfallen that a day with so much potential had gone unfilled. Even 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan walking over to offer some words of encouragement and a pat on the back did little to raise Wallace’s spirits.

“The 23 (team) deserved to finish better than that, and I fumbled the bag on that,” Wallace said.

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When it comes to races on superspeedways, Wallace is typically a fixture at the front, leading laps and earning stage points. He is often aggressive in these races, defending his position with vigor and positioning himself well to be in the mix at the end for the W. Such an approach has served him well. He won this race two years ago, nearly won several others and twice finished runner-up in the Daytona 500.

It’s why Wallace is near the list of favorites every time NASCAR visits Talladega or Daytona, the sister tracks where a driver must manage running in a tight pack and navigate the nuances of drafting if they are to be successful. It’s why this race represented such a chance for him to solidify his standing in the playoffs, continuing what has already been a surprising run.

On Sunday, though, circumstances often dictated that Wallace couldn’t be aggressive.

One issue was that during a pit stop late in the race, Wallace lost track position when Barker called for a two-tire stop while several other teams opted for fuel only. With the field running two- and often three-wide, it made moving forward from the back difficult to do so quickly.

Then there was the issue that often hinders Toyota drivers at Talladega and Daytona. Superspeedways can be a numbers game, and that’s not something the manufacturer has in its favor. Toyota had only six entries in Sunday’s race, compared to 17 for Chevrolet and 15 for Ford. This makes it difficult to find someone to link up with in a race where working harmoniously together provides a significant advantage.

This was something Toyota again struggled with on Sunday. The opportunities to work together were limited. And when such opportunities did arise, the timing didn’t align.

“We were buried from Lap 4, and it’s so hard to get back up there,” Wallace said. “Anytime you get a run on top, people would start to pull up and now you’re the sixth car in the top lane, so you’re 18th if all (three) lines are equal, so you just get blocked out. That’s how it went today. And we just didn’t do a good job of maintaining track position from the start. Once we lost it, it was hard.”

Nine points isn’t much at all, a deficit that could be erased after just one stage. And Wallace demonstrated in August that he can do well enough on road courses that he won’t necessarily be in for a long day on the Charlotte Roval, a track where he’s finished in the top 10 once in five starts.

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The problem is that the other three drivers also on the wrong side of the elimination line (Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch) are more often than not better on road courses than Wallace. This is particularly true of 23XI teammate Reddick, who’s only two points behind Brad Keselowski for the final transfer spot and regarded as exceptional on road courses.

No wonder then, as Reddick stood on Talladega’s pit road dissecting his race Sunday, he was confident that he could leave the Roval having punched his ticket to Round 3.

“Oh yeah, I like them a lot,” Reddick said of his chances to advance. “It’s in our control. That’s all we could ask for.”

Maybe circumstances will work out in Wallace’s favor this coming weekend. The Roval race is often chaotic, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see several playoff drivers experience assorted issues, opening the door for Wallace to somehow skirt playoff elimination.

The likelihood, though, is that Sunday’s race at Talladega marks where Wallace’s playoff effectively ended. A track he came into thinking could catapult him into the semifinal round could be the reason why he doesn’t advance.

“All in all, just not the day that we needed,” Wallace said. “… Obviously, we had this one circled for being a good weekend for us but just didn’t execute.”

(Photo: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

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