Bubba Wallace’s day at Martinsville Speedway came to an abrupt end during the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 last weekend, when the 23XI Racing driver lost his cool on a late restart and drove into the back of Carson Hocevar’s car.
The contact in Turn 4 spun Hocevar and triggered a 12-car pileup, resulting in significant damage that forced Wallace to retire from the race with a 36th-place finish.
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Wallace, who had been running competitively earlier in the event, took responsibility for the incident but described it as a misjudgment amid the frustration of being put three-wide.
To many fans, it looked like a reversion to his old, polarizing ways. Following the self-inflicted DNF, Wallace has been warned to keep his emotions in check moving forward.
Bubba Wallace Warned to Keep Cool After Martinsville Incident
During Kevin Harvick’s latest Happy Hour episode, the former Cup Series champion warned Bubba that he needs to improve moving forward.
“Bubba got riled up because Carson put him three wide on a restart and put him in a bad spot, and Bubba didn’t like that,” he said. “But, you know, it’s Martinsville, and I’ve lost my temper a bunch of times at Martinsville and probably done stuff like this too.”
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Harvick went on to suggest that Wallace losing his temper was a result of growing animosity over the fact that he’s not the star of 23XI Racing right now.
“Your teammate’s the guy that’s won four races and is leading the points, that’s a lot of pressure,” he added. “I promise you that he’s frustrated that he’s not been the guy that’s won the race.”
“But you got to keep it together. You can’t lose your cool like that and cost yourself and your team all those points.”
Keeping it together has been a struggle for Wallace throughout his mercurial career.
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The incident has drawn pointed reactions from within Wallace’s own 23XI Racing camp. Spotter Freddie Kraft, speaking on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, offered blunt criticism.
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“You can’t have those mistakes. I’ll take him at his word that he misjudged; I know he meant to get into him, but I don’t think he meant, obviously, to end our day. It can’t happen,” Kraft angrily conveyed.
“You can’t have those moments if you want to be a contender for the championship or a contender to be top five, seven, or eight in points, whatever it is. That s*** can’t happen,” he continued. “Unfortunately, we ended our day yesterday self-inflictedly.”
Co-owner Denny Hamlin echoed a similar assessment on his Actions Detrimental podcast, noting that Wallace “wrecked himself.”
“I made of it that Bubba wrecked himself trying to knock Carson out of the way,” said Hamlin. “He just didn’t let up, kept driving in there, and eventually it caused him to wreck himself and others. That’s my take.”
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All of these comments share a similar theme: Wallace must channel his aggression more effectively to avoid repeating these self-inflicted setbacks. And he needs to do so before his team gets completely fed up with his antics.
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