Tempers flared Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson crashed out of the South Point 400.
In the first stage of the race Sunday, Larson attempted to pass Wallace, but hadn’t cleared the No. 45 Toyota when he began to drift up the track. Larson hit the inside of Wallace’s car, sending him into the wall.
After bouncing off of the barrier, Wallace slid back down the track, appearing to intentionally crash into the right rear of Larson’s car, which sent both cars onto the infield grass. Playoff competitor Christopher Bell was also knocked out of the race as collateral damage in the wreck.
However, the drama didn’t stop with the crash. Once both drivers were able to safely exit their vehicle, a frustrated Wallace approached Larson with his hands raised in confusion. He then shoved Larson multiple times before a NASCAR official was able to de-escalate the situation.
Larson seemingly wanted no part of the interaction, only half-heartedly attempting to ward off Wallace’s shoves.
After exiting the infield care center, Wallace denied that he intentionally wrecked Larson, claiming that he lost steering in his car when he went into the wall.
“When you get shoved in the fence deliberately like he did trying to force me to lift— steering was gone. He just so happened to be there,” Wallace told NBC’s Marty Snider. “I hate it. I hate it for our team.”
Both drivers were running in the top ten at the time of the crash.
“He knows what he did was wrong,” Wallace added of Larson. “He wanted to question what I was doing, he never cleared me.”
Larson said that he understood why Wallace was upset with him but pointed out that his apparent retaliation ended the race for both drivers, not just Larson.
“I obviously made an aggressive move into [Turn 3], got in low and loose and chased it up a bit and he got to my right front and it got him tight and into the wall,” Larson said, per Snider.
“I knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad. His race wasn’t over until he retaliated. It is what it is. Just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated.”
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