Tremors from Austin Dillon’s final lap antics in Richmond last Sunday continued to shake the press meet at Michigan this Saturday. Many drivers voiced their opinions on the incident and NASCAR’s verdict on the same. 23XI Racing star Bubba Wallace was among them. In doing so, he brought up a similar final lap bout from 2018.
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Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano were going at it hard in Martinsville with both in a position to challenge for the championship. Truex took second place with nine laps left on the clock with Logano ahead of him. He then bumped Logano repeatedly before edging ahead of him coming to the white flag. But coming to the final Turn 3, the Team Penske driver shot back.
He bumped Truex and continued to hit him door-to-door through Turn 4 as the No. 17 car moved sideways. The duo drag-raced it to the finish line and Logano ended up as the winner. Back to the press room in Michigan, Wallace noted how people were unfairly comparing this 2018 incident with what happened at Richmond. He sees no sense in relating them.
He said, “Now people want to relate (Joey) Logano and (Martin) Truex at Martinsville the same as what happened to Richmond. Who are these people? He moved him out of the way, knocked him out of the groove, and they drag-raced to the line. Yeah, he may have plowed him, but he didn’t spin him out, wreck him, and didn’t give him a chance to finish.”
Wallace issues striking threat to drivers who cross the “line”
Wallace had also been vocal about Dillon’s move after the race finish. He told the press that he was going to congratulate him for the win but wouldn’t be doing so after watching the wreck he caused on Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. He didn’t see the aggressiveness justified and termed it “kind of BS.” The words came after a fourth-place finish behind teammate Tyler Reddick.
One can’t help but find the humor in Wallace, a driver who was penalized for intentionally wrecking Kyle Larson in 2022, talking about respectful racing. He went as far as issuing a threat to those who dared cross the line – an undefined and invisible border that everybody seems to be talking about this past week.
“You have to earn and respect your way in the Cup level,” he said on Saturday. “If the officials don’t take care of you, we know how to take care of you.”
