Drivers Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson found their seasons split in opposite directions last week, with the former eliminated in the Round of 12 and the latter comfortably advancing with a second-place finish in Charlotte.
Next, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday for the 2025 South Point 400. In 2022, Wallace and Larson were involved in a notable incident that resulted in Wallace receiving a one-race suspension.
Wallace, the 2025 Brickyard 400 winner, led the 2022 race – Stage 2 of the Round of 8 playoffs – in Las Vegas for 29 laps and captured Stage 1.
Larson gently shoved Wallace into the wall on lap 94, turn 4, causing Wallace to ricochet back and send Larson careening around the track. Christopher Bell was also caught in the incident.
Wallace was incensed, approaching Larson on the infield turf with his arms raised, looking perplexed. After a brief exchange of words, the 23XI driver shoved Larson, who didn’t retaliate, multiple times.
Wallace earned a one-race suspension for his behavior, a decision that wasn’t appealed by Michael Jordan and 23XI Racing. While it was initially judged as a suspension due to reckless driving, a NASCAR spokesperson reiterated it was more so due to his behavior. “When we look at how that incident occurred, in our minds, (it was) really a dangerous act that we thought was intentional and put other competitors at risk,” a NASCAR spokesperson said of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after the incident.
Wallace felt bad about letting his team down post-race while still admitting frustration towards Larson. “[I got] shoved in the fence, deliberately [by Kyle Larson], trying to force me to lift – the steering was gone, and he just so happened to be there,” he started. “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.”
“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.”
Larson understood Wallace’s qualms. “I got in low, got loose and chased it up a bit, and he got up to my right front and got tight,” the 2021 Cup Series champion said. “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.”
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Larson currently sits third in the remaining playoff field, four points above Bell for the top-four cut line.