A win at this weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 was the only chance for Bubba Wallace to secure a playoff spot. He nearly grasped the victory, but an incident with #22 Joey Logano sparked a huge wreck that caused Wallace to lose momentum and fall behind with just a few laps remaining.
The wreck, seen in a video posted by NASCAR on NBC, was caused when Hamlin bumped Logano from behind, sending #22 pushing into #43 Wallace, leading to an obvious of momentum. William Byron makes slight contact but squeezes through to take the lead and eventual victory.
As the caption says, the wreck claimed Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Joey Logano. Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, and Cole Custer also crashed out of the race during the incident.
While the wreck kept Bubba Wallace from securing a first-place finish and moving on to the playoffs, he still recorded a personal best: He came in fifth, his first top-five of the season. Wallace mentioned his disappointment, saying via Twitter “What could’ve been. We’ll never know,” while moving “thru the anger” to congratulate William Byron.
William Byron ‘liked’ Wallace’s congratulatory tweet.
Byron’s victory at the last race of the 2020 regular season was his first Cup Win. He posted images to Twitter, thanking his team and the people who helped him “get to this point.”
This isn’t the first time Bubba Wallace has been pushed out of success by Joey Logano. Earlier this season, Logano caused another late accident that pushed Wallace to 25th place, after the weekend’s earlier success. The incident, occurring at the Daytona Road Course, led to Wallace shading No. 22 on Twitter.
While Wallace cannot vie for the championship trophy in the playoffs, he will still compete in this year’s remaining races for wins.
