NASCAR has handed Bubba Wallace a one-race suspension.
The driver of the No. 45 car will miss the Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday after violating a NASCAR Member Code of Conduct rule, NASCAR released on Tuesday. He was not levied any fine or points penalties.
The 29-year-old driver for 23XI Racing was penalized for an altercation he had with Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past weekend. Early in Stage 2, Wallace was squeezed into the wall by Larson, and in retaliation, Wallace then turned left into the No. 5 car’s right-rear quarter panel — spinning the driver out and ending both of their days immediately.
Once his car was parked, Wallace then promptly walked over to Larson and physically confronted him, starting a shoving match that quickly got national attention.
“He knows what he did was wrong,” Wallace later told NBC Sports.
Wallace is only the third driver in 11 years to be suspended for a NASCAR race due to an on-track incident. The most recent driver suspension was delivered in 2015 to Matt Kenseth, who intentionally wrecked Joey Logano at Martinsville.
In a statement Tuesday evening, 23XI Racing announced that John Hunter Nemechek will drive the No. 45 Toyota in Wallace’s stead this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Nemechek is the son of former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Joe Nemechek and has experience competing at the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series levels.
“23XI is aligned with NASCAR on the one-race suspension issued to Bubba, and we understand the need for the series to take a clear stand on the incidents that took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,” the statement read. “Bubba’s actions are not in keeping with the values of our team and partners. We have spoken to Bubba and expressed our disapproval of how he handled the situation. Bubba has made impressive strides this season, and this experience is an opportunity for him to further learn and grow as a competitor in NASCAR.”
Wallace apologized via statement on Monday, saying that his behavior “does not align with the core values that are shared by 23XI Racing and our partners, who have played a crucial role in my incredible journey to the top of this great sport.”
“I want to apologize to NASCAR and the fans, along with Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota for putting them in a situation in the playoffs that they do not deserve,” Wallace wrote. “I compete with immense passion, and with passion at times comes frustration. Upon reflecting, I should have represented our partners and core team values better than I did... You live and learn, and I intend to learn from this.”
Joey Logano, who won the Las Vegas race and subsequently punched his ticket into the Cup championship race in Phoenix in a few weeks, told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday that “there is no room” for that kind of hit in the sport.
“The retaliation is not OK in the way it happened,” Logano said. “If he spun him into the infield, maybe that’s a little better. Maybe. But right-rear hooking someone in the dogleg is not OK. I don’t know if everyone realizes how bad that could have been.
“That could’ve been the end of Kyle Larson’s career. That to me was what was on the line. Or his life.”
After the event, Larson commented on the danger of the incident. The Next Gen car lately has been the subject of immense safety scrutiny — most prominently with two drivers, Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman, out of Cup Series racing for the forseeable future because of concussions.
What’s more frightening: Had Larson not knocked into Christopher Bell on his spin, the No. 5 car’s rear bumper was headed for the wall — which would’ve made for a dangerous hit not too dissimilar from the ones Busch and Bowman took.
“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,” Larson told NBC Sports post-race. “But we’ve all done it — maybe not all of us, but I have. I’ve let my emotions get the best of me before too. So I know he’s probably still upset, but 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.”
NASCAR has been dealing a ton of penalties these playoffs. Among the most memorable instances:
•William Byron wrecked Denny Hamlin under caution in Texas, which (temporarily) buried him in the points race.
•Ryan Blaney lost a wheel in Bristol, which suspended Blaney’s crew chief (Jonathan Hassler) and two other crew members through the next four events.
•Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 team was assessed with a loss of 100 points, and crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 for the “modification of a single-source supplied part” after Talladega.
•And Cole Custer was fined $100,000, and Stewart-Haas Racing was assessed with a loss of 50 owner points after slowing down on the last lap and subsequently helping his teammate, Chase Briscoe, at the Charlotte Roval.
Kyle Busch’s No. 18 team was also slapped with a penalty after a tire got loose in Stage 3 of Sunday’s race. Busch will lose his crew chief, Ben Beshore, and crew members Derrell Edwards and Michael Hicks for the next four Cup events.
