Bubba Wallace pushes back on ‘DARFs’ after making next round of NASCAR Playoffs, pole for Texas race

Bubba Wallace enters the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in the final spot of the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 12 and on the pole for the race.

Wallace has been outperforming expectations the entire year onto the first playoff appearance of his career and secured a spot in this round of the playoffs with a 14th-place finish at Bristol last week. He faces an uphill climb to get to the Round of 8 but wasn’t about to let non-believers bring him down.

“We keep outkicking the goal posts and they keep moving it,” Wallace said Saturday, via Sportsnaut. “That’s fine. We’ll make it work. You can’t help DARFs.”

The term DARF is an acronym for “Dumba– race fan.” He first used the term in 2022 after he wrecked in Atlanta.

Wallace gets to start on the pole, which could help him get a stage point at Texas. He enters the race 14 points behind Tyler Reddick, Wallace’s teammate who won at Kansas earlier this month.

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Also on the bubble – Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney.

“Was I expecting it? I don’t know,” Wallace said of qualifying. “Qualifying, you know, I tend to try too hard and overthink things. And that’s my problem with life, I need to stop doing it, I just need to just go out and do. So that was a good surprise.”

It’s his second career pole.

The Texas race starts at 3:30 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.