Bubba Wallace and Toyota teammate Ty Gibbs clashed on pit road at EchoPark Speedway after NASCAR wiped out what looked like a runner-up finish for Wallace, demoting him to 29th for advancing his position below the yellow line on the final lap of the Quaker State 400.
According to a fresh update from NASCAR.com, Wallace and 23XI Racing crew chief Charles Denike spent 31 minutes in the NASCAR hauler contesting the call that stripped Wallace of second place before officials confirmed he had violated Section 8.7.2.A of the rulebook. “A penalty’s a penalty,” Wallace said as he left the meeting. The No. 23 Toyota had run as high as third on the final lap before a late shove from Christopher Bell sent it below the line, with Ryan Blaney going on to take the win.
Ty Gibbs Says Wallace ‘Showed A Lot Of Disrespect’
The penalty compounded an earlier flashpoint. Gibbs made contact with Wallace at the end of Stage 2, spinning the No. 23 through the frontstretch grass, then approached his fellow Toyota driver on pit road after the race to apologise. “I went to tell him sorry… and then he showed a lot of disrespect,” Gibbs said, per Frontstretch. Wallace gave his own account of the exchange: “I just said ‘lift.’ I said there’s an opportunity to give, and you didn’t… you hit me square in the bumper.”
The 27-point swing leaves Wallace 13th in the regular-season standings, just 55 points above the playoff cutline, after finishing outside the top 20 in six of his last nine starts. With the postseason picture tightening, Wallace’s next chance to make amends comes as NASCAR’s Cup Series heads to North Wilkesboro.
