This past Monday evening, Bubba Wallace, a driver for NASCAR, finally reversed course in the wake of extreme backlash spawning in the 36-hour stint since his crash during the Sunday race and his subsequent choice to leap out of his vehicle to charge another driver to assault them.
The ordeal took place in the middle of Stage 2 of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as Wallace, who took a victory in stage one, was beside another driver, Kyle Larson, when Larson tried to execute a three-wide pass.
Larson made a move up the track before his car lightly tapped the side of Wallace’s car, pushing it the car up against the wall. After making contact with the wall, Wallace ricocheted back into Laron’s car and then continued to push by tracking Larson’s car down the track and slamming into the back of his car, causing both vehicles to wildly spin out.
As part of a release issued Monday evening, Wallace made the claim that he wanted “to learn from this” and he then put forth an apology to everyone involved except Larson himself:
I want to apologize for my actions on Sunday following the on-track incident with Kyle Larson and the No. 5 car.
My behavior does not align with the core values that are shared by 23XI Racing and our partners, who have played a crucial role in my incredible journey to the top of this great sport.
I want to apologize to NASCAR and the fans, along with Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Toyota for putting them in a situation in the Playoffs that they do not deserve.
I compete with immense passion, and with passion at times comes frustration. Upon reflecting, I should have represented our partners and core team values better than I did by letting my frustrations follow me outside of the car. You live and learn, and I intend to learn from this.
At first, Wallace did not seem to want to take any sort of responsibility for his actions during a post-crash interview with NBC and claimed that he did not mean to bounce into Larson’s car, only stating that his “steering was gone” and that Larson “just so happened to be there” in his way.
“It was just a piss poor move on his execution,” expressed Wallace.
When questioned about rushing out of his vehicle over to attack Larson, Wallace answered that Larson knew what the message was that Wallace was intending to make.
“He knows,” stated Wallace. “He knows that what he did was wrong. He wanted to question what I was doing. He never cleared me.”