Bubba Wallace won Stage 1 in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but a loss of temper led him to hook Kyle Larson at high speeds across the front stretch after the No. 5 car made him hit the wall.
There are no excuses. It is clear what NASCAR needs to do in the coming days.
Breaking down the crazy NASCAR wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
When people thought the playoffs could not get any crazier, Wallace hooking Larson across the front stretch has affected both the driver’s and owner’s championships as the No. 5 car and Christopher Bell are done for the day.
Bell won the Charlotte ROVAL and has a good car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but he was involved in the crash that his Toyota Racing teammate took to another level.
Let’s take a view of the crazy wreck that has created very strong opinions on Sunday afternoon.
Larson went up the track while exiting Turn 4 as Wallace was to his outside. Then, the No. 45 car came across the front stretch at full throttle and blatantly turned the No. 5 car at 160 MPH back across the front stretch.
As Larson slid back, he made contact with Bell’s No. 20 machine which ended his day as the damaged vehicle policy clock expired. Wallace walked down the track after the incident and proceeded to fight Larson.
It was an ugly sequence of events that NASCAR needs to lay the hammer on because it’s simply unacceptable. The rest of the article will be dedicated to explaining why Wallace needs a very, very major penalty.
Related: NASCAR needs to penalize William Byron and Ty Gibbs in 2022
NASCAR needs to hand down a significant penalty to Bubba Wallace
Wallace’s actions on Sunday afternoon were very unacceptable and it is something NASCAR should review in the coming days. However, it is very clear what should be coming in the coming week.
NASCAR gave William Byron at 25 point penalty and a large fine after he spun Denny Hamlin under caution at Texas Motor Speedway. Ty Gibbs was also given a similar penalty for slamming Ty Dillon on pit road.
The sport should be handing out harsh penalties like candy for situations exactly like the one that took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. To create new precedents, old precedents have to go away.
This is the chance for NASCAR to create a new precedent that turning a driver across the front stretch at full throttle will not be tolerated in any division, especially the top level of stock car racing.
NASCAR needs to suspend Wallace for the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway at the minimum and possibly even longer. Plus, the sport needs to give a significant fine and points penalty.
It is simply unacceptable. If NASCAR is going to prevent these dangerous actions in the future, this needs to be a major one. If Matt Kenseth got a two-race suspension at Martinsville Speedway in 2015, there needs to be something.
It is incredibly disappointing since Wallace’s teammate Kurt Busch just stepped away from full-time racing in 2023 after a concussion suffered at Pocono Raceway. Everyone has known for months that the NextGen cars have safety issues.
However, the 29-year-old put himself, Larson, Bell, and others at risk for injury in an accident that was clearly intentional. If NASCAR decided to suspend Wallace for the last three races of the 2022 season, that’s acceptable too.
There are zero excuses why NASCAR shouldn’t be dishing out harsher penalties. If the sport had been doing this in the past, the question of whether Wallace performs that move is certainly present.
This goes beyond the racing on the track. Wallace is a tremendous talent and will be winning races far into the future. However, the safety of the drivers has been said to be the No. 1 priority.
If NASCAR actually cares about driver safety, the penalty coming to Wallace in the coming week will be very significant.