Bubba Wallace, a NASCAR driver, got into a rampage during a race on Sunday, attacking another driver after causing him to crash.
Wallace, who won Stage 1, was close to driver Kyle Larson as Larson made a three-wide pass during Stage 2 of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson advanced up the track, and his car gave Wallace’s car a tiny touch, leading Wallace’s car to brush up into the wall. Wallace rebounded into Larson’s car after brushing up against the wall, then followed Larson’s car down the track and smashed into the back of his car, forcing both cars to spin out.
Wallace’s decision to spin out Larson’s vehicle was deliberate. NASCAR may sanction Wallace if they judge his acts were intentional.
Wallace, previously described as self-righteous and pompous, got out of his car and physically assaulted Larson, who is smaller than Wallace.
Larson attempted to flee Wallace, and the physical assault was only halted when NASCAR authorities interfered.
Larson replied to the situation by claiming Wallace’s rage was unsurprising.
“I obviously made an aggressive move into three and got in low and got loose and chased it up a bit,” Larson said. “And yeah, I mean, he got to my right front, and I got him tight into the wall and knew he was gonna retaliate. So, like I said, I mean, he had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. So it is what it is. Just, yeah, just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated.”
Larson responded no on tape when asked if it was appropriate for Wallace to react at that pace, citing the seriousness of damage that may occur.
“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 said.
During the interview, Larson did not appear upset and appeared to have a more positive take on the situation, claiming that most drivers had lost their cool and retaliated during races.
When Wallace was interviewed on camera by the same individual, he accepted no responsibility for his behavior and became irritated with the interviewer.
The interviewer mentioned that Cliff Daniels, one of NASCAR’s senior crew chiefs, thought Wallace’s actions were payback, and then questioned Wallace whether it was retaliation.
“Cliff is smart enough to know that how easy these cars break so when you get shoved into the fence, like deliberately like he did, trying to force me to lift, steering was gone. He just so happened to be there.”
Wallace arrogantly claimed, “It was just a piss poor move on his execution.”
“When situations like this happen, Bubba, at this speed, is retaliation an acceptable thing?” the interviewer asked.
“Stop fishing,” Wallace snapped. “Stop fishing.”
“I’m not fishing. I’m just asking you,” the interviewer responded. “Let’s also talk about the message you wanted to send to Kyle by going up to him after the incident.”
“He knows,” Wallace said. “He knows that what he did was wrong. He wanted to question what I was doing. He never cleared me so just hate it for our team, our McDonald’s Toyota Camry was super solid.”