Wallace's playoff hopes dashed after Pocono brake failure

Bubba Wallace had no warning of impending doom, but once he heard the brake rotor explosion, he knew what was coming.

“Oh my God,” Wallace radioed as his Toyota took off for the Turn 2 wall Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

The incident, on lap 55, was the second of the day for a 23XI Racing driver. Wallace suffered the same fate as teammate Riley Herbst, who crashed in Turn 1 on lap 42 after a brake rotor explosion, and was forced to retire from the race early. He was running 27th at the time.

“I was going to battle the No. 17 (Chris Buescher) into Turn 2, and by the time I was ready to touch the pedal, it just went to the floor,” Wallace said. “The brakes exploded. I hate it. We’ve had two or three good races in a row, then here we go with the bad luck again. But MJ (Michael Jordan) told me there’s no such thing as bad luck, so we create our own luck.

“I apologize to the racing gods – this weekend sucked aside from practice, but that pays nothing.”

More NASCAR

Report: Spire Motorsports co-founder Puchyr to buy Rick Ware Racing

All you need to know in the 23XI Racing/Front Row vs NASCAR lawsuit so far

Skip Barber Racing returns to NASCAR Trucks with Lambros at Lime Rock

Wallace was the second-fastest driver overall in Cup Series practice, but then he couldn't make a qualifying lap when his car would not fire on pit road because of a starter issue.

The team finished the first stage in 21st position after coming from the rear of the field. The brake issue and crash occurred early in the second stage.

“I hate it for my guys,” Wallace said. “I hate it for McDonald’s. We knew it was going to be a grind, and I was mentally prepared for that all day. As frustrating as it gets here to not be able to pass here in Pocono, we were going to just take our lumps and march our way through and set ourselves up for the end of the race. The brakes didn’t want us to hang around that long.”

Pocono Raceway is Wallace’s sixth DNF of the season. He will finish 36th of 37 drivers.

In the bigger picture, he entered the weekend having finished 12th or better in the last three races. The stretch pushed him to ninth in the championship standings with a 57-point advantage on the playoff grid cutline.