By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer

A relatively trouble-less Sunday last week at Michigan International Speedway netted Bubba Wallace his first top-20 finish in over a month.

The result was a third place, his best result in the Cup Series since winning the Brickyard 400 nearly a year ago.

And while the No. 23 crew were entering this weekend at Pocono Raceway with a well-earned feeling of momentum, Wallace was snake-bit again on Saturday, crashing his 23XI Racing Toyota on his qualifying attempt.

He will start Sunday’s 400-miler from the rear in a back-up car.

“I just feel like this last month and a half — from the start to lap 30 have been the best driving, best execution we’ve ever seen,” Wallace said Saturday before qualifying. “It’s just like, ‘OK, we are getting into true form.’ And then [punches hand] smack with something. You say, “Alright that is one week… smack with something.’ Alright that’s two weeks, three, four, five. It’s like, holy shit when is it going to stop?

“It’s just the way racing goes sometimes.”

Those words were echoed by his team owner and three-time race winner of 2026 Denny Hamlin, who believes that Wallace has to ‘work through it’ to come out the other end.

“I’m sure listening to me is the last thing he wants to do when he’s going through a slump,” Hamlin said. “He’s kinda been in the wrong places at the wrong time. Some of it is… if you’re in the middle of the pack, you’re going to get involved in some of it. There’s definitely been a large element of luck.

“This stuff kind of compounds, right? You just have to put a solid weekend together, which he did last week. He had a good qualifying opportunity today and obviously wasn’t able to see it through.

“As a driver, you just go through these stretches. [It’s about] how you can not let it get to you and stay emotionally stable through it. If you can do that, then you’ll come out better.”

With six finishes outside the top 20, Wallace crash-fell from third in points after Round 6 to 15th after Round 14.

That spiral was corrected in part last week, however, jumping from 15th to 11th in points, and highlighted Wallace’s confidence that the team can build fast racecars and that he can execute with fast racecars.

“To have a good first stage last week was nice and then to get smacked by a restart and cracked our splitter — Our potential took a massive hit,” Wallace said. “To finish third, I give a lot of credit to the pit crew for keeping me in the game and having one of their best days of the year.

“That’s what we’ve been doing. It’s just the results haven’t come through.”