Bubba Wallace tried to fight reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson after a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Check out fight video here.
Bubba Wallace : Fight today | Suspension | fight video
Wallace started racing in the Bandolero and Legends car racing series, as well as local late model events, at the age of nine.
In 2005, he won 35 of the Bandolero Series’ 48 races held that year; in 2008 he became the youngest driver to win at Franklin County Speedway in Virginia.
Wallace was previously a development driver in Toyota’s driver development program where he drove part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series and full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. He then moved over to Ford and their driver development program and competed full-time for Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series.
After competing in select Cup Series races for Richard Petty Motorsports in their famous No. 43 as an injury replacement for Aric Almirola, Wallace became a full-time driver for RPM in the same car when Almirola left the team, which was his first full-time ride in the Cup Series.
Bubba wallace fight today
Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson were involved in a heated incident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The entire ordeal started in Stage 2 of the South Point 400. Wallace, who won Stage 1, was racing side-by-side with Larson in Turn 4 of the racetrack when it appeared Larson had bumped Wallace into the wall around the corner.
Wallace bounced back into Larson, who was sent down toward the apron and wallace followed Larson down low and appeared to purposely spin Larson out. The two spun out and crashed into the wall.
And Wallace got out of his vehicle and stormed toward Larson. He threw his helmet down and extended his arms, wondering what Larson’s deal was. Wallace then got into Larson’s face and pushed and shoved Larson on the infield grass before the brouhaha ended.
It’s been a tough year for both competitors.
Larson was eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs in the Round of 12 after Chase Briscoe got some help and snatched the final spot. Wallace had one win, four top fives and six top 10s during the season.
Suspension
Bubba Wallace won Stage 1 in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but a loss of temper led him to hook Kyle Larson at high speeds across the front stretch after the No. 5 car made him hit the wall.
There are no excuses. It is clear what NASCAR needs to do in the coming days.
When people thought the playoffs could not get any crazier, Wallace hooking Larson across the front stretch has affected both the driver’s and owner’s championships as the No. 5 car and Christopher Bell are done for the day.
Bell won the Charlotte ROVAL and has a good car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but he was involved in the crash that his Toyota Racing teammate took to another level.
Larson went up the track while exiting Turn 4 as Wallace was to his outside. Then, the No. 45 car came across the front stretch at full throttle and blatantly turned the No. 5 car at 160 MPH back across the front stretch.
As Larson slid back, he made contact with Bell’s No. 20 machine which ended his day as the damaged vehicle policy clock expired. Wallace walked down the track after the incident and proceeded to fight Larson.
It was an ugly sequence of events that NASCAR needs to lay the hammer on because it’s simply unacceptable. The rest of the article will be dedicated to explaining why Wallace needs a very, very major penalty.
Bubba wallace fight video
The incident began when Larson attempted a three-wide pass — Kevin Harvick in the middle dropped out of the bunch — and Larson slid up the track against Wallace. When Wallace didn’t lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace’s Toyota into the wall.
Wallace then bounced back down the track, followed Larson’s car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. That sent Larson spinning into the path of Bell, who won last Sunday at Charlotte to earn the automatic berth into the round of eight, and ended Bell’s race.
Wallace climbed from his car and marched toward Larson. Wallace was shouting before he even got to Larson and immediately began to shove the smaller driver. Larson tried to turn away from him and several times lifted his arms to block Wallace’s shoves, but Wallace got in multiple shots before a NASCAR safety worker separated the two.
Wallace said he didn’t deliberately wreck Larson, but both Larson and Bell viewed it as clear retaliation. NASCAR could penalize Wallace if it also believes he deliberately retaliated. NASCAR said it will review the incident, which included what appeared to be Wallace pushing an official, and any penalties would be issued next week.
“I’m smart enough to know how easily these cars break, so when you get shoved into the fence deliberately like he did trying to force me to lift, the steering was gone,” Wallace said. “Larson wanted to make a three-wide divebomb, but he never cleared me and I don’t lift.