Bubba Wallace accepts penalty, but wants consistency from NASCAR

Bubba Wallace returned to the track Saturday after serving a one race suspension for contact with Kyle Larson during the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After sitting out the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and watching driver John Hunter Nemechek racing in his place, Wallace is back at Martinsville Speedway. The 23XI Racing driver, who won at Kansas Speedway in September said the hardest thing for him was sitting out, and not being in a normal routine.

“It’s unfortunate, but I tried to play a different part in the team than I was from the driving aspect and being there for the race,” Wallace said. “Tried to help John Hunter (Nemechek) get the feel that he needed for practice, qualifying and the race. Just sitting out and not being part of your normal routine was the toughest part for sure.”

Wallace said he felt the penalty was fair but did speak to NASCAR executives.

“Yeah, I mean I totally accept the penalty and the repercussions that come from my actions,” he said. “I talked to (Steve) O’Donnell (NASCAR) and I talked to (Steve) Phelps (NASCAR) and I said, ‘Hey, I’m good with being the example if we can keep this consistent moving forward,’ because it’s happened multiple times this year and it’s something that may continue to happen you know, for other drivers down the road.

“I definitely learned my lesson, but we have to be consistent with this no matter if it’s here at Martinsville or if it’s at Daytona or Talladega. We have to keep it consistent across the boards and across the series. That was the conversation, it was a good conversation.”

Wallace said he has learned plenty from the incident.

“You have to think before you do. In this sport, it’s the heat of the moment type things that get to you,” he said. “Seeing that and going back and looking at a 10,000-foot view, definitely could have handled everything way different and been in a different spot. I put myself in a bad light, I put our team in a bad light, our sponsors – it’s just something that I’m not proud of, but moving on, moving forward and not allowed to make that mistake again.”

Wallace also said he had a ‘great conversation’ with Larson who later confirmed it.

“Yeah, it was great to have that talk, “Larson said.  “I said the same thing. I came downstairs and told my wife that Bubba (Wallace) and I had a great conversation. I thought it went really well and I think we’ve both moved on from it really fast. It was good to have a talk; good to just talk over the frustrations and mistakes on both of our parts. Move on and forget about it, and get back to racing. I feel like we’ve raced really well together in the past. Hopefully I don’t make any more mistakes and we can continue to race good.”

 

Greg Engle