“You leave your fate up to other people”: NASCAR insider fires warning signs for Bubba Wallace’s fading 2025 playoff hopes

For the second straight week, Bubba Wallace failed to finish inside the top 20. On the heels of crashing out and posting a 36th-place finish at Pocono, the driver of the #23 was mired back in traffic on Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway, leading to a 22nd-place effort.

With eight races remaining in the regular season, Wallace finds himself as the last driver above the Cup Series playoff cut line by 23 points. Jordan Bianchi, a motorsports insider for The Athletic, weighed in on Wallace's season to this point in a recent episode of "The Teardown." While Bianchi believes Wallace has been fast throughout 2025, he's starting to go the wrong direction at the wrong time.

"If you look at a guy like Bubba Wallace and his season and the direction its going, they've had speed, but they don't have the results to show for it and they're going in the wrong direction," Jordan Bianchi said. (14:26 onwards)

Bianchi went on to note that the 23XI Racing driver was in a similar position last season where he was on the brink of making the playoffs. However, after drivers like Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe won the last two regular-season races, they both clinched spots in the playoffs after being below the cut line. This ultimately left Wallace out of the playoffs despite being above the cutoff for much of the regular season.

Bianchi ended by warning Wallace and other drivers that while they might have a solid season and post quality results, winning is the only way to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. Therefore, having "good seasons" won't mean anything.

"It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. You can have a good year and you can point everything, but if you cannot find a way to win a race, you leave your fate up to other people," Jordan Bianchi said. (15:01 onwards)

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Bubba Wallace's team 23XI Racing plugs fan appearance in Chicago

NASCAR: Cup Practice and Qualifying - Source: Imagn

This Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago street course will be the 19th race of the 2025 season. For fans who come out to the race, they could get the opportunity to meet 23XI Racing star Bubba Wallace, according to the team's social media.

23XI Racing's social media team encouraged their followers to come see Wallace on Sunday at the Air Force display in the fan zone. According to the graphic, Wallace will be there from 10:15 to 10:35 a.m. CST, with the first 75 fans arriving getting a wristband. Here's what the team wrote via X:

"Come see Bubba in Chicago ✈️ @USAFRecruiting"

Bubba Wallace currently sits 13th in the Cup Series points standings. The driver of the #23 has recorded three top fives and an average finish of 19.4 through 18 races.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua