An Embarrassing Display of Bad Judgement
This writer slept on it . . . . giving it a space in time to sink in completely. Nevertheless, when NASCAR Race Mom ‘woke’ the trouble still loomed large. What NASCAR fans witnessed yesterday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s ‘South Point 400’ was a driver with a complete disregard for his sport, fans, officials, and fellow competitors versus a Cup Series Champion who handled the negative confrontation with grace and maturity.
Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald's Toyota, should have known better . . . done better. He has six complete years in the NASCAR Cup Series – 181 races.
Winning stage one, Wallace demonstrated he had a dominant race vehicle. However, when Kyle Larson attempted a three-wide pass in stage two on turn four -- Kevin Harvick in the middle dropped out of the bunch -- and Larson slid up the track against Wallace.
Kyle Larson hits Bubba Wallace.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
Wallace spins him out, and #NASCARPlayoffs driver Christopher Bell is involved! pic.twitter.com/TlxcEV5T6q
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 Christopher Bell, ending Bell's race.
Wallace immediately exited his car after the crash and walked across the hot track (violation) and into the infield where Larson was exiting his car. He pushed Larson multiple times as Larson clearly did not want to engage in a fight of any sort. Bubba was also observed disregarding the directions of an official (violation) and pushing him out of his way.
Slowed this down. Look close at all the exposed parts from the wreck and the hard hit from BW Larson took onto the exposed parts into his spine (after a pretty bad hit to wall obviously). Larson defended himself w/out any aggression & BW didn’t stop. Broke many rules.Unacceptable pic.twitter.com/xgMYkv4dt6
— Robyn 🇺🇸🏁 (@robynsracing) October 16, 2022
Bubba Wallace Quotes
Bubba Wallace on what happened in the Kyle Larson incident and his reaction to it. pic.twitter.com/6FZK5k6Nw4
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 17, 2022
“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.
“I know I’m kind of new to running up front, but I don’t lift. I wasn’t even at a spot to lift and he never lifted, either, and now we’re junk. Just (very bad) move of his execution.”
Asked what message he was trying to send to Larson when he began shoving him, Wallace said, “He knows.”
“He knows what he did was wrong. He wanted to question what I was doing, and he never cleared me,” Wallace said.
And as for Bell becoming collateral damage? “Sports,” Wallace, who like Bell is a Toyota driver, said with a shrug.
Kyle Larson Quotes
Kyle Larson says Bubba Wallace did have a reason to be upset with him. pic.twitter.com/rmmyIg5XP1
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 17, 2022
“I obviously made an aggressive move into (turn) three, got in low, got loose and chased it up a bit,” Larson said. “He got to my right front, and it got him tight and into the wall. I knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated.
“It is what it is. Just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated.”
“I think with everything that’s been going on here lately, with head injuries… I don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do,” Larson said. “I’m sure with everything going, he’ll know that he made a mistake in the retaliation part and I’m sure he’ll think twice about that next time.”
He also said he expected Wallace to be ready to fight when Wallace approached his crashed car.
“I saw him walking over, so I figured he would do something,” Larson said. “He had every right to be upset. I would rather him do that (fight) than tear up our cars in a dangerous manner.”
Christopher Bell Quotes
Christopher Bell on the frustration, whether Bubba Wallace should face further discipline and the challenge ahead: pic.twitter.com/aPrTUbnbtp
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 16, 2022
Bell said “Just the 23, Bubba got run into the wall and obviously, retaliation on his side. We got the short end of the stick.”
“It’s disappointing because our performance is capable of racing for the championship, and it doesn’t appear that we’re going to get to,” he said.
When asked if he believed that Wallace should be penalized for his actions, Bell responded, “I don't know, follow protocol of whatever they've done in the past.”.
What happened in Vegas should not stay in Vegas! Wallace, Larson, or innocent bystander Bell could have had their career ended with one reckless bonehead ‘retaliation.’ Now is the time for NASCAR to step up and reaffirm that thuggery will not be tolerated. Will that happen . . . . only time will tell.
1 comment:
Bubba just needs to grow up.
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