On Sunday, after causing another driver to crash during a race, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace erupted into a fit of rage as he attacked him.
Wallace, who won Stage 1, was next to driver Kyle Larson when Larson attempted a three-wide pass during Stage 2 of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson hitting Wallace’s car caused it to go up against the wall and Multiple reports said that it appeared that Wallace intentionally retaliated by slamming his car into Larson’s which caused both of them to crash, taking the two drivers out of the race.
Following the incident, Wallace got out of his car and physically assaulted the 2021 champ. The physical assault was only halted when NASCAR officials intervened.
Kyle Larson hits Bubba Wallace.
Wallace spins him out, and #NASCARPlayoffs driver Christopher Bell is involved! pic.twitter.com/TlxcEV5T6q
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
Well here’s our angle of it – forgive my terrible iPhone video pic.twitter.com/LTXSwozkpf
— Saskia (@Sasskatt) October 16, 2022
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
In response to the incident, Larson stated that Wallace’s aggressiveness was not unexpected.
“I obviously made an aggressive move into three and got in low and got loose and chased it up a bit, and yeah, I mean, he got to my right front, and I got him tight into the wall and knew he was gonna retaliate. So, like I said, I mean, he had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. So it is what it is. Just, yeah, just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated,” Larson said.
As he pointed to the severity of injuries that can happen, Larson responded negatively when asked on camera if Wallace should have retaliated at that speed, saying,
“I think with everything that’s been going on here lately with head injuries and all that, fractured ligaments and all that I don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do.”
‘@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
Saying that most drivers have lost their cool and retaliated during races, but during the interview, Larson did not appear angry and appeared to have a more positive take on the incident.
Wallace, however, refused to accept responsibility for his actions and became combative with the interviewer when he was being interviewed on camera by the same person.
Cliff Daniels, one of the top NASCAR crew chiefs, said that Wallace’s actions amounted to retaliation, which the interviewer pointed out and asked Wallace about it.
“Cliff is smart enough to know that how easy these cars break so when you get shoved into the fence, like deliberately like he did, trying to force me to lift, steering was gone, he just so happened to be there,” Wallace claimed and then smirked.
“It was just a piss poor move on his execution,” Wallace arrogantly claimed.
The interviewer then asked, “When situations like this happen, Bubba, at this speed, is retaliation an acceptable thing?”
In which Wallace snapped two times, “Stop fishing, Stop fishing.”
“I’m not fishing. I’m just asking you, Let’s also talk about the message you wanted to send to Kyle by going up to him after the incident,” the interviewer responded.
Wallace said, “He knows that what he did was wrong. He wanted to question what I was doing. He never cleared me so just hate it for our team, our McDonald’s Toyota Camry was super solid.”
“I don’t lift.”
Hear from @BubbaWallace after his incident with Kyle Larson. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/XUMPs2sRsf
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 16, 2022
Sources: Dailywire, Nbc4i, Madrastribune