The Monster took one swipe and eliminated three cars late in the going Sunday. On a restart after the races 4th caution on lap 330 Bubba Wallace who had finished 10th in Stage 2, was 11th and looking to get back inside the top 10. Coming out of turn 2 however, Zane Smith, who was laps down, got loose underneath Wallace’s Toyota and slid up the track sending Wallace into the outside wall.
Wallace’s Toyota slid back down across the track and in front of William Byron, who was second in Stage 1 but had a slow stop when his car fell off the jack that put him outside the top 10. Byron t-boned Wallace and both cars were done for the day.
“You have the long ride over here on the golf cart to figure out what you want to say,” Wallace said outside the infield care center. “I guess turning 30, going to be a dad – you’ve got to be more mature. It’s a bummer. I hate it for our Xfinity, U.S. Air Force Toyota. Not the result we needed – back-to-back DNF’s. Bootie (Barker, crew chief) said it perfect Monday. I was pissed off and frustrated after Talladega – he said, we are going to have to grind our asses off for Dover – from practice, to qualifying, to the race. It’s not going to be pretty. I don’t think he meant that part – the wrecking out part was not going to be pretty, but we had to grind. I’m proud of the effort we put in every week, just unfortunate that we have no results to show for it.
“We will just go on to Kansas, where hopefully, we are not around any squirrels and go kick their ass.”
For Byron, a three-time winner this season, it was his first DNF of the season.
“I didn’t see much,” Byron said. “We were rolling on the bottom, and something happened up top. The No. 23 (Bubba Wallace) got spun across the track, and we were there.
“We had a good No. 24 Liberty University Chevy early but couldn’t get through traffic very well out front. Once we got in the back, we were terrible in traffic. We didn’t have the balance today.”
Behind them Christopher Bell who had been struggling all race long slowed to try and avoid the melee, but his Toyota was hit from behind and sent nose first into the inside wall ending his day early as well.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" 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, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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