LAS VEGAS (AP) — Bubba Wallace adopted the mantra of “Peace. Love. Understanding.” to push back against the negativity and vitriol so often hurled his way.
There was nothing peaceful or understanding about Wallace’s skirmish with Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway over the weekend. Wallace appeared to deliberately crash the reigning NASCAR champion in a dangerous retaliatory move Sunday and then he tried to fight Larson.
Now NASCAR is in a no-win situation as it decides whether Wallace was out of line.
No penalty? That will be classified as favoritism and maybe even fear of punishing the star of Michael Jordan’s race team, who remains the only Black driver at the top level of the sport.
Mild punishment? Cue a mind-numbing debate over precedent.
A suspension? That would be a strong statement against what NASCAR already considers taboo — drivers using their cars as weapons — though a driver suspension in the final three weeks of the season would be another massive headache for a sanctioning body currently putting out fires in every corner.
Wallace apologized Monday, saying his behavior “does not align with the core values that are shared by 23XI Racing and our partners.”
“I compete with immense passion, and with passion at times comes frustration,” Wallace posted on social media. “Upon reflecting, I should have represented our partners and core team values better than I did by letting my frustrations follow me outside of the car. You live and you learn, and I intend to learn from this.”
Wallace is one of NASCAR’s most polarizing drivers, and his successful 2020 push for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its races deeply divided fans.
The false narrative that Wallace faked a hate crime — after a garage pull in his garage stall at Talladega was found to be fashioned as a noose — still circulates among some fans, though he never saw it and even the FBI categorized it as a noose.
Wallace claims his steering broke when Larson bounced him into the wall so he had no control of his Toyota when he shot down the speedway and hooked Larson’s car.
Data will show if that’s true. It doesn’t pass the eyeball test.
It looked as if Wallace chased after Larson to intentionally drill his car in the rear corner, one of the most dangerous moves in NASCAR racing. Wallace’s hit spun Larson directly back into traffic, where he slammed into the door of title hopeful Christopher Bell.
Had he not hit Bell’s car, Larson’s trajectory had him headed into the wall backward in a potential nightmare situation: The new Next Gen car is too stiff in the back and drivers are absorbing far too much energy when the impact comes there. Two drivers are out with concussions, NASCAR has held safety briefings the last two race weekends, and any fix won’t come until next season.
Larson believed Wallace was rightfully angry because he did squeeze Wallace into the wall. He wasn’t even upset that Wallace charged after him as Larson tried to get out of the way. (“I’m 5-(foot)-6, 135 pounds. I’m not going to get too wound up about anything” Larson said last year about driver fighting).
Larson does think Wallace crossed a line in terms of safety.
