Despite back-to-back top-5 finishes, Bubba Wallace is not happy with the way NASCAR handled the second-to-last restart in the Goodyear 400. When Martin Truex Jr. turned into the wall right in front of Joey Logano, there looked to be a lot of cars involved in the wreck. However, a couple of cars were able to start ahead of Wallace on the ensuing restart, putting him behind where he thought he should have been.
Most of the time, Bubba Wallace would be happy with a P5 result. When he knows that there was a chance to get more, he can’t help but talk about it. Wallace is about at his wits end. Many times he will say something in the heat of the moment after a race. This time he kept it going.
Following the Goodyear 400, Wallace went on Twitter to further his crusade. He doesn’t believe that NASCAR reset the order in the way that they should. And, he is even more fed up with the reasoning the governing body gave, calling it “comical.”
Kelly Crandall of RACER Mag asked for clarification on the reset order. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Chase Elliott were involved in the wreck but NASCAR “felt those drivers maintained reasonable speed at the caution.” And that “The 21 [Harrison Burton] and the 23 [Wallace] … gained positions by not slowing.”
To Wallace’s credit, it does seem he was punished for avoiding the wreck. Harvick drove right into the rear end of Elliott. It was enough to where the Fox Sports booth brought it up as the next restart began.
Bubba Wallace showed frustration right after the race
It didn’t take long for Bubba Wallace to realize what happened. I’m sure his spotter and crew chief let him know about the restart order. Wallace’s point is that on the next restart, he would have been starting on the second row, or maybe the front of Row 3. Then after the Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson incident, he would have been pushed up another row, giving him a shot at racing William Byron for the win.
That did not happen.
Instead, Wallace had to fight for every spot and walked away with a P5 to his name. He kept his cool for the most part, but his frustration was obvious after the race.
“Yeah, unfortunately, we had that one bad pit stop that set us behind, team never gives up,” Wallace said. “It’s good to rebound fifth. I keep looking at that pylon pissed off there were a couple of cars that were involved in a wreck that got put in front of us. It’s um, bullcrap. Is that nice? Is that good?”
He went on to thank his team for fighting hard and getting in a position to be at the front. This is going to be another one that got away. For Bubba Wallace and the 23 team, it is on to the All-Star Race next week and the Coca-Cola 600 in just two weeks.
