Wallace crushed in second runner-up finish in Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Bubba Wallace tried to explain how he lost the Daytona 500 by inches when the replay flashed on the 40-foot screen overlooking the track.

Wallace winced when he watched himself fall just short of Austin Cindric.

“I don’t want to see that,” Wallace said. “That sucks! Gah!”

Wallace had to relive his second career Daytona 500 runner-up finish moments after the most agonizing near-miss of his NASCAR career. Wallace, who led laps Sunday for the second straight Daytona 500, had the checkered flag in sight. The 23XI Racing driver charged to the finish and hugged the yellow line. Cindric had enough to nip Wallace by 0.036 seconds.

“I could smell it,” Wallace said of a win.

Wallace, who finished second behind Austin Dillon in 2018, had tears in his eyes outside the No. 23 Toyota as his fiancee came up for a hug. He sipped from a water bottle and stared at the screen as Cindric was interviewed and fireworks shot off around him.

“I’ll probably go punch a pillow or hug my dog when I get back to bus,” he said.

Wallace could only think of how agonizingly close he was to etching his name in Daytona 500 history.

“This could hurt or victory could be sweet,” he said. “I think I’d rather get wrecked out than finish second.”

Wallace pulled himself together and congratulated Cindric in victory lane.

“I know there's a lot of people that want this really bad and he's definitely one of them,” Cindric said. “He's worked hard for it and puts himself in position in a lot of these races.”

Wallace already had the highest finish for a Black driver in the Daytona 500 and last year he became the first one to lead laps in the race. He led seven times for 12 laps on Sunday -- surely enough to impress team owners Michael Jordan