Bubba Wallace WAS NOT happy with Kyle Larson after the two tangled on lap 95 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and after his No. 45 Toyota Camry came to a stop, Wallace strolled down the front stretch and met Larson to showcase his anger.
Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion who was eliminated from the Playoffs last weekend at the Charlotte Roval, didn’t seem to understand how frustrated Wallace was. Wallace appeared to come up to speak to Larson, and it looked like Larson said something back.
As soon as Larson spoke, Wallace began telegraphing shoves on Larson.
Here is video of the post-incident shoving match:
Bubba Wallace is NOT HAPPY with Kyle Larson.
Some pushes and shoves after they wreck. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/aaAn0idrJp
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
While the initial shove on Larson from Wallace appeared very hard on the broadcast, video has surfaced from the stands from Twitter user @Sasskatt, which shows just how hard Wallace’s original shove on Larson was.
Larson gets pushed several feet back and slams into the side of his No. 5 car.
Well here’s our angle of it – forgive my terrible iPhone video ? pic.twitter.com/LTXSwozkpf
— Saskia (@Sasskatt) October 16, 2022
In the crash, Wallace was pinned into the outside wall by Larson, and it appeared that Wallace turned left in retaliation, which sent Larson crashing hard into the wall. The incident also collected Playoff contender Christopher Bell.
However, Wallace contends that he did not retaliate and that the steering on his No. 45 car was broken when he was slammed into the outside wall.
“Cliff [Daniels] is smart enough to know how easy these cars break,” Wallace said of Larson’s crew chief questioning if he retaliated. “When you get shoved into the fence like deliberately like he did trying to force me to lift, steering was gone. Just so happened to be there. Hate it. Hate it for my team.”
When asked by NBC Sports’ Marty Snider if retaliation is acceptable, Wallace responded with, “Stop fishing. Stop fishing.”
At the end of the day, Wallace says that Larson knows what he did in the incident was wrong.
“He knows that what he did was wrong,” Wallace said. “He wanted to question what I was doing, he never cleared me.”
Here was Wallace’s full post-infield care center interview on NBC:
.@BubbaWallace talks with @heymartysnider following the incident early in Stage 2. pic.twitter.com/3Rs8PLfXn7
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 16, 2022
While Wallace says he didn’t retaliate, Larson wasn’t buying it after he was checked out in the infield care center.
“No, I mean, it didn’t surprise me,” Larson explained. “I obviously made an aggressive move going into [Turn] 3. Got in low and got loose and chased it up a bit. And yeah, he got to my right front and it got him tight and into the wall. I knew he was going to retaliate. Like I said, he had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. It is what it is.”
As far as the retaliation, Larson feels with the safety of the Next Gen being a hot topic in the sport, it probably wasn’t a good time for Wallace to exact revenge, but that he has done similar things in the heat of the moment.
“We’ve all done it — maybe not all of us. I have,” Larson admitted. “I’ve let the emotions get the best of me before, too. Just, I’m sure with everything going on, he’ll know that he made a mistake in the retaliation part. And I’m sure he’ll think twice about it next time.”
Larson was not surprised by the shoves from Wallace either but says that he understands Wallace was upset.
Here is Larson’s full post-infield care center interview:
'@KyleLarsonRacin addressed Bubba Wallace's move and if he thinks it was retaliation. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/sDVDXJTDxU
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
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