A lot of Playoff contenders ran into issues on pit road and the race track in the opening Stage of Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. For Bubba Wallace, and the No. 23 23XI Racing team, they found trouble on pit road and the race track.
After a sluggish second pit stop of the race, where the air hose got caught on the front of the car, Wallace went for a spin at the conclusion of Stage 1.
Wallace’s car got out of shape, and as he attempted to corral the car up the hill, Joey Logano was attempting to squeeze by for position. Logano couldn’t quite get past Wallace in time, as Wallace caught the left rear of Logano’s car.
The impact caused Wallace to go spinning. Here is a video of the incident:
Denny Hamlin took the Stage 1 win, but the Stage caution came out for this spin by Bubba Wallace in Turn 4. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/kjemmk1xOl
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) September 3, 2023
In addition to Wallace’s issues, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also suffered a pit road speeding penalty, Ross Chastain overshot his pit stall, and Christopher Bell tagged the wall hard toward the end of Stage 1.
It was a rough Stage 1 for the Playoff contenders, well, except for Denny Hamlin, who scored the Stage 1 win.
