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'When is it our turn?': Bubba Wallace explains feeling watching 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick make NASCAR history

Meby: Nick Geddes04/21/26NickGeddesNews

Tyler Reddick went winless in 2025, something he never expected after winning the regular season championship the year prior. A long winless streak is something his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace is very familiar with. Wallace went 100 races without seeing Victory Lane before taking the checkered flag in the Brickyard 400 this past July.

Reddick has responded in 2026 by becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win the opening three races of a Cup Series season. With his win Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Reddick is the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to win five of the first nine races of a season.

Wallace spoke to Steve Letarte on Monday about the hot start Reddick has gotten off to this season. Wallace said it certainly looks like going winless last season “lit a fire under his ass.”

“Incredible to see how we come off last year, obviously, just the Brickyard 400, not downplaying that at all, but Reddick went winless,” Wallace said. “… Massive win and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Who lit a fire under his ass?’ I think he took going winless to heart. I did it for three years, and it’s just hard. The sport is so hard, and I think the conversation that we had with leadership and just getting the preseason meetings kicked off, just kind of lit a fire in everybody.”

Bubba Wallace believes he’s ‘close’

Reddick has been the story of the 2026 season to this point. It’s overshadowed the job Wallace has done, sitting an impressive eighth in the points standings with five top 10s to his name.

Wallace has no sour grapes about the success Reddick is having. However, he is beginning to wonder when it will be his time.

“The hot start that we’ve had — I am happy for him, the team, and the success. Tyler and I, we’ve been great teammates I feel like for the last four years. I’ve had no, ‘Man, why him?’ None of that. It’s just like, ‘Man, when is it our turn?'” Wallace said.

Chances are, if Wallace continues to put his name in the hat of running inside the top-10 and cracking the top-five, eventually the wins will come. It happened for Ty Gibbs at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Wallace believes he’s close.

“It’s not a woe is me thing; it is understanding how tough this sport is and when you’re on it, you’re on it, and we’re close, man,” Wallace said. “We gave up two races there at Darlington and Martinsville, but we’re getting back into form.

“I told my team yesterday [at Kansas], ‘If we can break through — we were running eighth or ninth — if we can break through and get into the top-five, I said it’s gonna be game on.’ We get into the top-five and the 45 [Reddick] passed me and I’m like, ‘Oh, nevermind. Maybe next week.'”