NASCAR has suspended Bubba Wallace for Sunday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for his intentional crash of Kyle Larson at Las Vegas.
Wallace hooked Larson’s car into the wall after Larson raced him aggressively off Turn 4 in the first stage of the race. Larson was on the inside of Wallace and washed up the track. Wallace’s car hit the wall off the corner and he moved his car down the track to send Larson into the wall.
After exiting his crashed car, Wallace walked across the track to where Larson was getting out of his wrecked vehicle and shoved Larson multiple times. Larson, who didn’t want to engage in a physical altercation with Wallace, said after the incident that he understood why Bubba would be upset with his aggressive maneuver.
Wallace said after the crash that the steering on his car had “broke” when he hit the wall before hitting Larson’s car. Wallace posted a lengthy apology to social media on Monday for his actions. His move also collected Christopher Bell. Bell is currently alive in the third round of the playoffs. Larson was eliminated in the second round and Wallace’s No. 45 car was eliminated from the owner’s playoffs in the second round.
Wallace is the first NASCAR driver suspended for a race since Matt Kenseth in 2015, who got two races for intentionally crashing Joey Logano at Martinsville in retaliation for an incident weeks earlier. In its penalty report announcing Wallace’s punishment, NASCAR cited the rule that gives it discretion to penalize drivers who “intentionally wreck or spin another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from competition as a result.”
