After a rough start to Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 23XI Racing team had made massive adjustments to his Toyota Camry XSE, which put him into contention in the second half of the race. In the closing laps, Wallace found himself in a prime position to capitalize for a win, which would have sent him into the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.
Instead, Wallace, who had the race lead on the final lap of Sunday’s race, received contact from Denny Hamlin, his team owner, which sent him into the outside wall, and cost both drivers a chance to win the race. As Chase Elliott cruised by the two Toyotas to take the win, Wallace was left wondering what might’ve been, as he sits perilously below the cutline with one race remaining in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Heading into the final turn of the race, Wallace carried excitement that he was going to have a chance to battle it out with his boss for the race win.
“You guys have seen it. It’s unfortunate,” Wallace said to a scrum of media following the race. “You know, I was excited to race Denny for the win. Hell, we ended up fifth, and we gave [Chase Elliott] a win. So, that’s what’s frustrating the most, is that we couldn’t get Toyota to victory lane. We’ve been working really hard to get our program back here at Kansas. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. Played all of our cards right, and yeah, just wasn’t meant to be.”
On the cool-down lap of the race, Wallace issued a one-finger salute out of the driver’s side window of his No. 23 car at Hamlin, a showcase of his displeasure with the move that ended his bid to win the race.
Bubba Wallace shows his displeasure to team owner Denny Hamlin after the checkered flag. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/belqTREHw0
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) September 28, 2025
So, will Wallace speak to Hamlin heading into next weekend’s Bank of America Roval 400?
“Can’t talk to him,” Wallace jabbed.
Wallace explained that no matter who his competition is, whether it be the NASCAR Cup Series champion, his team owner, or a teammate, he races by one mantra.
“I’ve always been big on, how you race me is how I race you. No matter who you are, what it is,” Wallace said. “We race hard, we race hard every week. Toyota drivers race really hard every week. But we respect each other. And there’s a fine line that sometimes gets crossed, and you have to understand that.”
Hamlin, who dominated Sunday’s race by sweeping Stages 1 and 2, leading 159 laps, and turning the Xfinity Fastest Lap, had suffered power steering issues late in the race, and after a late-race miscue on pit road, it looked like his chances at a win had evaporated.
In the closing laps, Hamlin found himself in a position to potentially pull off his highly coveted 60th career win, and at that point, the racer in him was determined to pull it off.
“I’m just disappointed because I’ve never had a car that good to the competition. I wanted it for my dad, I wanted it for everybody. I wanted it a little too hard,” Hamlin explained.
Hamlin reiterated that the only thing going through his mind in the closing laps was his own personal milestone, which he’s been attempting to reach all season long. Heading into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, Hamlin misjudged how his power steering issues had hampered his car, and he made contact with Wallace. If he had a chance to re-run the finish, Hamlin knows how he’d approach the final turns differently.
“What was on my mind was winning 60, that was it. In a race where we dominated, we had the best car, had a bad pit stop. Restart sixth, with one to go, I’m thinking, ‘find a way to get 60.’ Obviously, not having power steering there was not ideal. And obviously, I got really close to [Bubba Wallace],” Hamlin said. “If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d run a little bit lower to allow a space between us so I don’t get so tight, and try to turn the wheel more.”
For Hamlin, this is the second week in a row that he has had contact with a teammate or quasi-teammate. Last week in New Hampshire, Hamlin crashed Ty Gibbs out on Lap 110 after taking exception to how Gibbs had been racing him. That incident spawned mid-week meetings at Joe Gibbs Racing between the team’s leadership and the drivers.
Hamlin says while he feels bad that he ruined Wallace’s chance for the win, he races everyone the same, regardless of whether he owns their car, is a teammate, or is a bitter rival. He says no matter which car was leading the race in the closing laps on Sunday, he would have likely made the exact same move, and it likely would have turned out exactly the same way.
“I mean, a little bit,” Hamlin said when asked if he was upset about getting into Wallace. “I would have raced everyone the same way. I’m going for 60. Nobody will ever accuse me of laying over for anyone for a win. Obviously, to win a championship, we’ve got to figure out a way to move on. I would have loved for me and [Bubba Wallace] to battle it out, but obviously, I couldn’t turn the car well enough that last corner, and got up the race track.”
Despite the tough ending, Wallace was extremely proud of his No. 23 team for rallying and putting him back in a position to chase the win after they dropped from seventh to 19th in the opening 30 laps of the race.
“Every stint that went by, my smile got bigger and bigger because we were getting back up to the front, and it was nice to see everybody sticking together,” Wallace said. “Intensity ramps up, the emotions ramp up, and I’m vocal. Like, ‘We need to fix our car, immediately,’ and they kept their heads down, gave me the appropriate adjustments, and we made it work, and we had a shot for the win.”
The last-lap incident really shifted the Playoff outlook for Wallace, who would have worked his way into the Round of 8 with the win. Instead, he sits 26 points below the cutline.
While a fifth-place finish was a disappointing way for Sunday’s race to end, Wallace is determined to bring the same tenacity he showed on Sunday at Kansas Speedway to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval next weekend.
“We’ve got one more race at the Roval. For me, it’s a must-win, there, right? But we’re going to go and do what we did today. Fight hard, and yeah, make the most of it,” Wallace explained.
Can Wallace work his way into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs next weekend at the Roval? It feels like a long shot, but the maturity shown by Wallace on a tough afternoon at Kansas makes you feel that perhaps he isn’t out of the race for a championship just yet.
