Cloudy skies rendered continual racing impossible at the 2021 Yellawood 500 which gave 23XI Racing star Bubba Wallace his first Cup Series win. Though every team knew to anticipate rain-caused red flags, the only ones who did something with the knowledge were Wallace and his spotter, Freddie Kraft. However, their win did not come before the driver made things a tad too difficult for his spotter.
Advertisement
Reminiscing the difficulties they faced and the ultimate outcome of it the duo got into a friendly exchange on social media.
Responding to a post appreciating his work in the race, Kraft wrote how he’d had wanted to punch Wallace in the face after the driver chose to give up the lead to get behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wallace’s decision to get behind Stenhouse Jr. temporarily was a strategy call. The JTG Daughtery Racing driver had already set an example by getting into the back of Alex Bowman knocking him out of the race in lap 99 and Wallace wasn’t going to face the same fate at his hands.
Though Kraft did mention that things worked out alright in the end, Wallace couldn’t help giving himself a shout-out. He replied with a picture of him holding the Yellawood 500 winner’s trophy and wrote, “You were saying??”
You were saying?? https://t.co/LYAPHVYVds pic.twitter.com/3T9i67JuGa
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) December 29, 2023
How Bubba Wallace ended up leading the field at the 117th lap
The 2021 Yellawood 500 set the weekend’s mood by postponing itself to Monday instead of the scheduled Sunday courtesy of heavy rains. When the race did begin the next day, it was once again marred with occasional showers. What’s interesting is that the #23 Toyota Camry of Wallace was nowhere to be seen in the grid’s top 10 at the end of stage 1.
Rain and caution delayed the race now and then again, it restarted on lap 78 and headed forward towards its finish line at the 188th lap. With no driver finding it in them to lead more than 11 consecutive laps a big wreck went down on lap 99. It caught the rides of many including Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr.
Taking advantage of these happenings, Wallace shot his Camry forward, got the better of his fellowmen, and held his line for some 45 minutes. Before the stage could end another caution came around and the race was red-flagged for rain. After a 40-minute wait, officials declared the race ended and announced the leader Wallace to be the winner.
