NASCAR Cup: Team-best night goes worst for 23XI Racing at Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. — Although 23XI Racing swept the first two stages in Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond Raceway, the best finish they could get was 28th.
Bubba Wallace finished 28th, two laps down after leading a race-high four times for 123 of 400 laps. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick finished six spots and two laps behind him.
Before everything went downhill, the two of them made team history.
The race started well for Tyler Reddick who took the lead and the stage win from Ryan Preece on lap 59. While Reddick lost the lead during the stage break, 23XI Racing didn’t lose the lead.
Bubba Wallace took the lead on lap 75 and led 56 laps before pitting for tires on lap 130. When the pit stops wrapped up and the field cycled around, Reddick formally took the lead back from Wallace on lap 139. Reddick took his turn up front for 25 laps before Wallace took it back on lap 164.
Wallace led for 16 laps before it was time to pit again on lap 179.
This cycle, however, didn’t work out as smoothly for 23XI Racing.
Coming off of pit road, Wallace cleared the No. 54 lap car of Ty Gibbs and so did Reddick — mostly. Daniel Suarez bumped Gibbs into Reddick, causing Reddick to spin and hit the wall on lap 182.
Under caution, the field cycled around to put Bubba Wallace back in the lead. On lap 230, he brought 23XI Racing the first stage sweep with multiple cars.
When the race restarted on lap 241, however, Wallace lost control. Austin Dillon took the lead from Wallace and set sail, dictating the pace and tone of the race.
That was evident on lap 293 when Wallace pitted from second and had a tire come loose on pit road. Luckily, he had Chase Briscoe’s pit crew help put the tire back on but a penalty buried his race-winning car two laps down with teammate Tyler Reddick.
It ended a run where Wallace led 123 laps, the second-most for one 23XI driver in one Cup race.
Wallace and Reddick — and their rookie teammates Corey Heim and Riley Herbst — had nothing for the rest of the night.
At the end of 400 laps, Wallace, Heim and Herbst finished 28th, 29th and 31st — all two laps down — while Reddick finished 34th, four laps down.
Wallace is in the playoffs but Reddick will have to finish 10th or better to ensure his playoff berth.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com