DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2016) – Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 6 Selfeo Ford Mustang, earned an sixth-place finish on Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR XFINITY Series season opening event at Daytona International Speedway.
“Man, I’m getting a little bit emotional just to finish one of these deals,” said Wallace after the race. “It feels like I won, so it’s cool. My spotter, Freddie, did an amazing job. I don’t give him enough credit, but, hell yeah, it’s a good day. I can’t thank Selfeo enough for making this deal happen. We’re continuing to fight for sponsorship and to start the season off with this sponsorship on the car is outstanding. It was a great effort by my guys from the practice deal. We never gave up. This is just awesome.”
Wallace started off the weekend dealing with adversity as a practice incident forced the Roush Fenway Racing team to go to a backup car. Despite the setback, Wallace was able to advance into the second round of knockout qualifying and ultimately take the green flag for the 120-Lap event from the 12th position.
After a rash of cautions in the early stages of the race, the driver of the No. 6 Selfeo Ford Mustang raced his way into the top 10 on Lap 50 and then into the top five by Lap 74. Wallace maintained his track position until the final round of green flag pit stops on Lap 97 shuffled the Roush Fenway driver back to eighth.
Then, a timely caution on Lap 101 gave Wallace the opportunity to regain his lost track position and race his way back into the top five on the ensuing restart.
In the closing stages, Wallace ran in the third position on the inside line as the field took the white flag, but a hard charge by the outside line shuffled Wallace back as the field came off of Turn 4. In the end, Wallace brought the Selfeo Ford home with a sixth-place finish.
Next up for the NASCAR XFINITY Series is Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 27.
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NEXT UP:
1.5-Mile Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Georgia
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016
1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and PRN
RACE SUMMARY
Bubba Wallace
Started: 12th
Finished: Sixth
Complete Race Results:
www.roushfenway.com
