Kevin Harvick: Bubba Wallace, 23XI looking at Kansas as a benchmark

Kevin Harvick knows Bubba Wallace will compete in a huge race on Sunday. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, the NASCAR legend talked about what Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway means for Wallace and 23XI Racing.

“They’re looking to this race as a benchmark. Where are we at as a 23 team,” Harvick said while also mentioning that he’s seen flashes of speed from Wallace. “That’s the good thing for Bubba. You’ve seen the flashes of speed and brilliance that team is capable of.”

Wallace has had a rough couple of weeks as his team suffered two DNFs due to crashes. The good news for the 30-year-old and his No. 23 car is he won at Kansas in 2022 and finished fourth last year.

After the race at Dover on Sunday, Wallace expressed his disappointment for not finishing his second consecutive race. “I guess turning 30, gonna be a dad, you gotta be more mature,” Wallace said. “Just a bummer. … Just not the result we needed — back-to-back DNFs.

“Man, [crew chief] Bootie [Barker] said it perfect Monday. I was pi--ed off and frustrated after Talladega and he said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna have to grind our ass off for Dover from practice to qualifying to the race and it’s not gonna be pretty.’ I don’t think he meant that part, wrecking out wasn’t gonna be pretty. But we had to grind. Proud of the effort we put in every week, just unfortunate with no results to show for it. We’ll just go on to Kansas where hopefully we’re not around any squirrels and go kick their ass.”

Bubba Wallace is a top-10 NASCAR driver

Despite the last two weeks, Wallace has proven to be one of the top drivers in NASCAR. Denny Hamlin recently talked about Wallace on his Actions Detrimental podcast and gave huge praise to him.

“I usually send him texts encouraging on tough days or weeks like this for sure,” Hamlin said on the podcast this week. “He’s just gotten so used to running up front. He’s a top-10 guy now. Every week he’s up front. When you have weeks like this, it’s like ‘Dang it. I just was on a good run and momentum, I was getting good finishes and then out of my control, BAM! Two DNFs in a row I shouldn’t have been a part of.’

“It’s just racing,” Hamlin continued. “Racing sucks sometimes. Sometimes your competition can take you out when you make no mistakes.”