Last year following the playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the biggest headlines were not about who won the race but the massive drama that broke out between two drivers. Retaliation isn’t new in a contact sport like NASCAR, but it is rather the intensity and nature of such that causes controversy.
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That is exactly what transpired between 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson. The pair wrecked into each other in such a manner that their incident transformed into public outrage as the hours passed. However, most of it could have been avoided if not for the 23XI Racing driver’s temper boiling over and losing control of his judgment in the heat of the moment.
Now as we return to the same race track to kickstart the round of eight playoffs, this seems like the perfect opportunity to rewind and look back at what happened here last season.
The on-track incident that kicked off the drama between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson
The incident took place as Larson attempted a three-wide pass over Wallace with Kevin Harvick in between the two. However, as they headed into the turn, Harvick backed out, and Larson slid up the race track.
Meanwhile, the #45 car of Wallace decided not to lift and give Larson any room. This resulted in the 23XI Racing driver being shoved by the 2021 Cup Series champion into the outside wall.
Thereafter, an obviously agitated Wallace, decided it would be best to retaliate against the HMS driver. He did end up doing so but in the most violent manner possible. Within a split second, the Michael Jordan driver veered left, went down to the apron, and rammed into Larson taking both of them out.
Wallace’s dramatic reaction to Larson after the wreck
After both cars came to a halt, a fair distance apart from each other, the AMR safety crew tended to both cars. Normally, after an altercation like this drivers would walk themselves back to the pit road and start on a trackside boxing match against each other’s pit crews. Instead, Wallace seemed to have other plans.
He decided to pop out of the car, and calmly walk across the track down to the infield where Larson’s wrecked Chevrolet had been parked. At first, it appeared that the two-time Cup Series race winner would have an exchange of words with Larson.
Instead, Wallace walked up close enough, dropped his helmet, raised his hands in the air, began shouting, and out of nowhere suddenly lunged at Larson. The HMS driver attempted to defend himself, while Wallace kept on aggressively shoving him around until a safety worker decided to intervene.
The aftermath and public outrage following the incident
After the pair was separated and parted their own ways the gravity of the situation Wallace had dipped himself into began to emerge. Or did it? While speaking to the media Wallace stated, “Hate it. Hate it for my team…”
“Larson wanted to make it a three-wide dive bomb. Never cleared me. I don’t lift. I know I’m kind of new running up front, but I don’t lift. Wasn’t even in a spot to lift, and he never lifted either and now we’re junk. Just a piss-poor move on his execution.”
Meanwhile, when Larson was asked about Wallace shoving him around, he responded “I would rather have him done that rather than just tear up both of our cars.” Although later on the HMS driver did mention that Wallace did have a reason to be upset with him.
He commented, “I was trying to leave him room and ultimately just didn’t give him enough room as I was trying to keep my car in control and got him in the wall. Yes, he had a reason to be upset.”
Ultimately, NASCAR decided to intervene and handed Wallace a one-race suspension for the upcoming Homestead-Miami Speedway race. His team did not contest the suspension either and also released a statement regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, social media and the general NASCAR community had been fuming over Wallace’s retaliatory actions and the pushing and shoving afterward. The incident did eventually boil down but not without its fair share of headlines and chatter.
