Editor’s note: This is the 20th in a series in which we goodbye the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in reverse order of the final 2025 standings.
Driver: Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Team leader: Charles Denike
Final ranking 2025: 11th
Key stats: 1 victory, 6 top 5s, 14 top 10s, 378 laps led
How 2025 ended: Wallace made the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the second time in his career and had a blazing start to the playoffs, clinching his spot in the Round of 16 at the end of the first stage of the Round of 16 playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. But his best chance to advance to the Round of 16 with a win at Kansas was dashed in the final set of turns when team co-owner Denny Hamlin slid high in Turn 3, leaving Wallace in the wall and with a fifth-place finish instead en route to an 11th-place finish in the final standings with first-year crew chief Denike at the helm.
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Best race: No event compares to Wallace’s season than leaving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the winner of the Brickyard 400, ending a 100-race winless streak. Wallace led 30 laps and held off defending Brickyard winner Kyle Larson by 0.222 seconds in overtime to secure his first crown jewel victory and a kiss of bricks. His No. 23 Toyota was in the lead all day, earning the best average position of the day with 4.93 after qualifying second on the famous 2.5-mile track.
MORE: Wallace silences biggest skeptic with Brickyard victory
Other highlights of the season: Wallace led a career-best 123 laps at Richmond Raceway, but a detached wheel During green flag pit stops, the #23 driver lost too much time to overcome, resulting in a 28th place finish. His year after the Brickyard triumph was filled with ups and downs, finishing the campaign with a feast-or-famine stat sheet of six top 10s and eight 15th or worse finishes in the final 14 races of 2025.
Stat to know: Wallace’s key stats reflected his 2024 campaign, tying career bests with six top-fives and 14 top-10s. But this year, there was a notable positive and negative: He led a career-high 378 laps this year while totaling his most retirements – nine – including eight as a result of accidents.
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RELATED: Final ranking 2025 | Wallace through the years
Quotable: “Honestly, it’s been a lot of fun to show up at the race track with a new mindset and having an opportunity to win almost every week is what you want. Bootie (Barker, former crew chief) taught me that: Keep putting your name in the hat, eventually they’ll take it out. So it was just fun. And it goes back to what I told Charles when we first met: Man, I want to have fun when we go to the racetrack. race track, and we did just that. — Bubba Wallace on his 2025 season.
Looking to the future: Wallace made apparent gains on all track types in 2025, even improving on his previously noted struggles on road courses. His No. 23 Toyota was often closer to the field than in previous years and had a legitimate chance to advance to the semifinal round of this season’s NASCAR playoffs. That personal momentum, coupled with a second year with Denike at the top of the booth, should lead to further success for Wallace in 2026 as he climbs the ranks in an effort to become one of the sport’s best drivers.
