Bubba Wallace

2022 - 10 - 16

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Image courtesy of "ESPN"

Bubba Wallace pursues, shoves Kyle Larson after crash at Vegas (ESPN)

Bubba Wallace pursued and shoved Kyle Larson after the two tangled on the track during Sunday's race in Las Vegas.

He wanted to question what I was doing, and he never cleared me," Wallace said. I don't think it's probably the right thing to do," Larson said. "Larson wanted to make a three-wide divebomb, but he never cleared me and I don't lift. Wallace was shouting before he even got to Larson and immediately began to shove the smaller driver. Just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated." I would rather him do that [fight] than tear up our cars in a dangerous manner." He had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn't over until he retaliated. Wallace then bounced back down the track, followed Larson's car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. I wasn't even at a spot to lift and he never lifted, either, and now we're junk. When Wallace didn't lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace's Toyota into the wall. NASCAR could penalize Wallace if it also believes he deliberately retaliated. Wallace did not qualify for the playoffs, and Larson was eliminated last week.

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Image courtesy of "NASCAR on NBC Sports"

Bubba Wallace shoves Kyle Larson after accident (NASCAR on NBC Sports)

Bubba Wallace repeatedly shoved Kyle Larson after they crashed in Sunday's Cup playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

[Ty Dillon](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48402/ty-dillon) — Finished 33rd: “We had a good day in Las Vegas and were on our way to a strong run but made contact with the wall late in the race and broke something in the suspension that ended our day early.” [Christopher Bell](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48626/christopher-bell) — Finished 34th: “Just Bubba (Wallace) got run into the wall and obviously, retaliation on his side. ( [Bubba Wallace](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48427/bubba-wallace)) got to my right front, and it got him tight and into the wall. In the end, have to execute and not make any mistakes.” [Tyler Reddick](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48325/tyler-reddick) — Finished sixth: “We ran well and led a good bit of the race early today in our Chevrolet. We kept ourselves in the ballgame and still have a lot of work to do but we still have a chance. We were there at the end, just needed a little more to get up front and be in the mix for the win. We’ll head to Homestead next weekend where I feel like we made gains at the test a few weeks ago and see what we can do.” [AJ Allmendinger](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48510/aj-allmendinger) — Finished ninth: “Overall, I felt like it was a solid day for our No. We just need to get a little faster and I need to be better on restarts. I’m sure I can go back and find a few things, and to run the top there and let him get inside of me, I thought I had one more corner to do that, and he just got positioned on me there on the frontstretch, and we were just really tight.” [Kyle Busch](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48221/kyle-busch) — Finished third: “Just kept fighting in it and digging hard all day long. We put ourselves in position and I wish that when I was running second and Justin (Haley) was in the lead, that run would have gone to the end. That’s where it’s at.” [Chase Briscoe](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48661/chase-briscoe) — Finished fourth: “At the beginning of the race, I definitely didn’t think we were going to be able to be in contention. Just great to win out here in Vegas again, and it means so much getting to the championship.” [Ross Chastain](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/auto-racing/nascar/player/48395/ross-chastain) — Finished second: “That was all we had. I thought we were going to win and then we kind of fell out and then had the tires, and racing Ross was fun.

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Image courtesy of "USA TODAY"

Bubba Wallace charges Kyle Larson after both crash out of Las ... (USA TODAY)

Bubba Wallace was fired up after a incident with Kyle Larson Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and confronted the reigning NASCAR champion.

“He knows,” Wallace said of the message he was sending. “He knows what he did was wrong. I know I’m kind of new to running at the front, but I don’t lift. Once in his space, Wallace dropped his helmet and began shoving and shouting at Larson. The two never made contact, but Wallace felt Larson’s action made him hit the wall. Wallace then came down the track and hit Larson in the right rear, spinning Larson across the track and into the outside wall.

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Image courtesy of "Sports Illustrated"

Bubba Wallace deserves hefty fine, points penalty and suspension ... (Sports Illustrated)

Editor's note: Full results, post-race notes and updated driver standings are at the end of this story. I'm going to start today's analysis of Sunday's ...

There’s no question Bubba deserves to be taught a MAJOR LESSON (the capitalization and boldface are obviously for much-needed emphasis). Bottom line, I go back to what I said earlier: Bubba Wallace was a moron for what he did. Because of Bubba’s bonehead decision to seek out some kind of unnecessary and imaginary payback against Larson, the wrecking pair collected Christopher Bell and his race car in the process. To some, 23 points may not seem like a major margin differential at earlier parts of the season. Although if I’m not mistaken, I believe Larson knows some form of marital arts (he was offered an MMA exhibition fight just before COVID hit in 2020). But instead of admitting he messed up and SHOULD have lifted, Wallace hit the wall. Instead of manning up and admitting he screwed up, Wallace blamed Larson for his mistake. Sure, Larson pinched Bubba up close to the wall, but it was not Larson’s responsibility on how Bubba reacted. On the surface, this was really an inconsequential incident between two drivers who are no longer in the playoff picture. 2) Getting “pinched” up along the wall by an opponent is a part of NASCAR racing. Let’s face it, Larson is more like a horse racing jockey, a relatively tiny (135 lbs., soaking wet), while Wallace has about 45 lbs. There is absolutely place in this sport for either of those incidents.

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Image courtesy of "CBSSports.com"

LOOK: Bubba Wallace gets in shoving match with Kyle Larson after ... (CBSSports.com)

Wallace and Larson were involved in a heated confrontation during Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series playoff race.

The crash also caused terminal damage to Christopher Bell's car, putting one of the Round of 8 contenders out of the race and in a deep points hole as he tries to advance to the Championship 4. Larson acknowledged that he made an aggressive move on Wallace going into Turn 3, and he also expected Wallace to retaliate. I wasn't even in a spot to lift and he never lifted either, and now we're junk. He wanted to question what I was doing. "I know I'm kind of new to running at the front, but I don't lift. Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson were involved in a heated confrontation at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during Sunday's South Point 400, with Wallace losing his temper after Larson ran him into the wall leading to Wallace wrecking Larson.

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