LAS VEGAS — Bubba Wallace had a rocket ship in the opening stage of Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. By lap 95, he was out of the race — and in a scuffle — after an incident with Kyle Larson.
Wallace won the opening stage, his second stage victory of the season. After losing spots on the restart, the No. 45 car was in a three-wide battle with Larson and Kevin Harvick for fifth.
Larson drove deep into Turn 3, clearing Harvick. Wallace was pinched into the wall by the No. 5 Chevrolet and immediately hung a left on Larson, turning Larson into the wall. Running eighth, Christopher Bell was an innocent bystander, as Larson’s car clipped the No. 20 Toyota and broke the right rear toe link.
“When you get shoved in the fence, deliberately like [Larson] did, trying to force me to lift – the steering was gone, and he just so happened to be there,” Wallace said, who didn’t admit in turning Larson. “I hate it for our team.
“He never cleared me. I don’t lift. I know I’m kind of new to running up front, but I don’t lift. I wasn’t even in a spot to lift, he never lifted either and now we are junk. Piss poor move on his execution.”
But was the left hook intentional?
“Just racing, right?” he said. “Just have to do better, be better.”
When Wallace climbed out of his car, he walked roughly a football field down the frontstretch and forcefully pushed Larson. Then, did it again.
Bubba Wallace is NOT HAPPY with Kyle Larson.
Some pushes and shoves after they wreck. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/aaAn0idrJp
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
Wallace’s reaction wasn’t surprising to the 2021 Cup Series champion.
“I made an aggressive move into [Turn]3,” Larson noted. “Got in low, got loose, chased it up a bit and he got to my right front, got him tight and into the wall.
“Knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad; his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. Just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated.”
With Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman currently sidelined due to concussions, in addition to Cody Ware breaking his ankle at Texas last month, Larson believes it wasn’t a smart choice for Wallace to retaliate to such a degree.
He also knows it’s not the first time a driver has retaliated in intentionally wrecking a fellow competitor.
“We’ve all done it – maybe not all of us, but I have,” Larson stated. “I’ve let my emotions get the best of me, too. I know he’s probably still upset, but with everything going on he will know he made a mistake in the retaliation part. I’m sure he will think twice about it next time.”
Being the first two drivers out of the race, Larson finished 35th and Wallace 36th.
Bell was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Much like the opening race in the Round of 12 at Texas, the No. 20 team is likely in a must-win situation in order to advance to the Championship 4, 23 points below the cutline.
“We got the short end of the stick,” Bell said of the wreck.
Arguably, Bell has had the most speed in the Toyota camp in 2022 and is one of just two Toyota drivers left battling for the championship. The third-year Cup driver believes he has the capability of competing for a championship, but now has to perform well at Homestead and Martinsville.
The good thing is, he had a walk-off win last week at the Charlotte Roval just to make the Round of 8.
“The good thing is I feel better about winning one of those two races than I did winning the Roval,” Bell noted. “We’ve just had really, really strong Camrys – really all year long. We will see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat.”
In two starts at Homestead, Bell has a best finish of eighth. In the spring race at Martinsville, the No. 20 car placed 20th despite scoring stage points in the first two stages.
NASCAR will review the incident in full detail to determine whether any penalties are necessary.
Reflection. pic.twitter.com/ZpamWzjZJR
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) October 17, 2022