Martinsville Crash Highlights Bubba Wallace’s Frustrating Sunday

Bubba Wallace’s Sunday at Martinsville Speedway ended the way you’d expect if someone handed you a car and said, “Go have fun,” and then threw a bowling ball down the track.

On lap 325, during a restart in the Cook Out 400, Wallace’s No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota met Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in what would generously be called “an enthusiastic greeting.” Entering Turn 3, Wallace tapped the rear of Hocevar’s car. The first nudge didn’t spin Hocevar, but it was enough to start a traffic jam that ended with Wallace bumping him again—this time sending Hocevar around.

What followed was the automotive equivalent of dominoes in a hurricane. Twelve cars were tangled in the aftermath, including Zane Smith, Chris Buescher, Connor Zilisch, and both Legacy Motor Club Toyotas of John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones. Hocevar somehow survived on the lead lap. Wallace, on the other hand, got a front-row seat to the carnage he helped create and will be credited with a 36th-place finish.

“Yeah, I misjudged,” Wallace said later. “I didn’t appreciate the line. I misjudged the center of the corner. I didn’t mean to turn him. What a frustrating day, man. So much expectation coming here. Favorite track. Hardee’s on the car. Just wasn’t the day we wanted. We really have to figure out what it is. We can win Saturday in practice, just don’t show up on Sunday. I hate it for our team. Just frustration. Take a week off and reset and go on to Bristol.”

Martinsville served up a harsh reminder that even for the drivers who flirt with perfection, one misjudged corner can turn Sunday into an afternoon you’d rather forget. For Wallace, it was less “Cook Out 400” and more “Crash Course in Humility.”

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Greg Engle

Editor in Chief at Cup Scene Daily

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.