Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson crashed into each other during Stage 2 of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and it resulted in a heated clash.
Wallace’s No. 45 Toyota hit the wall and came back down the track, spinning Larson and himself, crashing into the outside wall. Wallace went to confront Larson about the crash, which also involved Christopher Bell. The confrontation involved a lot of pushing and shoving but no punches were thrown.
You can view the wreck and the infield confrontation below:
Wallace appeared to blame Larson for the crash, and elaborated after his day in Las Vegas was finished.
“When you get shoved in the fence, deliberately like he (Larson) did, trying to force me to lift — the steering was gone, and he just so happened to be there,” Wallace said, per NASCAR. “I hate it for our team. We had a super-fast car — not on short-run speed, we were kind of falling back there and (Kyle) Larson wanted to make it a three-wide dive bomb.
“He never cleared me. I don’t lift. I know I’m kind of new to running up front, but I don’t lift. I wasn’t even in a spot to lift, he never lifted either and now we are junk.”
Wallace was leading for 29 laps in Stage 2, and while the 23XI Racing driver did not qualify for the playoffs, he sure would have liked to end his season on a high note. Larson was eliminated in the Round of 16, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver took blame for the wreck.
“I got in low, got loose and chased it up a bit and he got up to my right front and got tight,” Larson said, per NASCAR. “I knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. Just aggression turned into frustration.”
Joey Logano took a spot in the Championship 4 with a win Sunday, and playoff driver Bell still has a chance to earn a spot with Logano.
