Throwback to 2020, when the entire world was locked up in their houses and so were the NASCAR drivers. The global coronavirus pandemic had everyone quarantined and at a loss of things to do. During this period, NASCAR decided to virtually entertain its viewers by hosting the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. But as the event went on, things didn’t turn out great for Bubba Wallace.
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Wallace was one of the 32 entries to compete in the Food City Rumble at a virtual Bristol Motor Speedway. Arguably, his day was the worst among everyone on the roster. Barely 11 laps into the 150-lap race, Wallace got involved in a skirmish with veteran racer Clint Bowyer and ended up doing something that the racing aficionados would call “rage-quitting”.
Needless to say, he received a lot of hate and a DQ/DNF for his actions. But the consequences of his actions weren’t confined to the track and unfortunately, it seeped into the business side as the then #43 Richard Petty Motorsports driver lost a major sponsor. Moments after the race, Wallace wrote on X, “Bahaha I’m dying at my mentions right now… I ruined so many peoples day by quitting..a video game… Bahaha. A video game. Damn quarantine life is rough”
To which, joint/muscle cream Blue Emu, commented, “GTK where you stand. Bye-bye, Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters.”
GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
Blu Emu giving up on Wallace was indeed a major setback for the team. The skincare company, who had sponsored Wallace on the tracks earlier, had just signed a multi-year deal and recently became an official NASCAR sponsor. Perhaps it is safe to say that Wallace realized although the race wasn’t ‘real’ the consequences were.
Bubba Wallace gets in the bad books of Hendrick Motorsports driver yet again
During the Busch Light Clash last weekend, the 23XI Racing driver got into an on-track squabble with Kyle Larson. The duo battled it out for a better position in the second half of the race. According to Larson, Wallace had nudged Larson several times before the latter retaliated by spinning the #23 Toyota just yards before the start-finish line.
In a post-race interview, Larson said, “I haven’t seen any replays from the last restart, but he got me again and then got me again in the next corner. I think at that point that was three times to my none, so I wanted to get him back before the checkered. I wasn’t trying to spin him out or anything; I was just trying to shove him through the corner like he was doing to me, and he ended up going around.”
These two drivers share a history of bad blood, which is evident if one rewinds the clock to the 2022 edition of the Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bubba Wallace made contact with Larson’s Chevy multiple times until the latter chose to give it back to him. Wallace exited his car and walked up to Larson, shoving him but Larson made it clear that he didn’t have any intention to fight.
But this time, Wallace didn’t say anything publicly about Larson’s comments. Larson, however, didn’t pull any punches expressing his frustration with Wallace’s antics. “Product of this racing and finally reaching my limit, I guess, but yeah, just how it goes,” he stated bluntly.
