An Unbiased Take on Wallace V Larson

By: Tom Luttermoser     Image Credit: Larry Placido

These are my opinions, not yours. We may agree, we may not and that is the beauty of this sport. So, obviously, this is the elephant in the room that now a day later plagues what was otherwise a great race with a fantastic finish that was filled with storylines. 

Fact, the 5 of Kyle Larson came up the track.. too far up the track, not lifting until the last possible second and that resulted in pushing the 45 of Bubba Wallace up toward the wall. We know this because even Larson himself admitted he made mistakes. Other fact, Bubba Wallace came down the track at full-throttle (telemetry data doesn't lie guys) and hooked the 5 in the right rear sending him back up the track and into the innocent bystander of Christopher Bell taking him out of the race. All of this could have been avoided if one or both drivers had lifted a little sooner. 

Bubba Wallace love him or hate him is Top-2 of the most polarizing drivers in NASCAR right now. I mean, fans love him or hate him for multitudes of reasons which I will not be addressing here. But with that, Bubba has an extreme amount of pressure on his shoulders. Partner that with losing several winning opportunities earlier this season at potential victory due to things outside of his control and finally getting a competitive streak...

​He had arguably the best car at Michigan finishing P.2 and then won at Kansas getting the "can't win without rain" stigma out of the way. He's now running fairly more consistently in the second half of the season all together. But, that pressure likely isn't leaving any time soon. If you've never been in a high pressure situation, pressure can build.... then... Explode. 

I think that's exactly what we saw at Las Vegas, the pressure of his surroundings on top of having what clearly could have been a race winning car and once again getting knocked out by something not of his doing. I honestly can't blame him for being upset.. Pissed off even. I can't blame him for taking out his frustration in the heat of the moment, but that still doesn't make what he did right. 

Wallace broke several major NASCAR rules first being taking out Larson under green. Second, ignoring AMR safety teams. He walked down a hot racetrack even with cars driving by him. Third, he shoved (by far the hardest shove I've seen in the sport) Larson into his race car, then repeatedly shoving him showing his displeasure. Larson only pushed back once and backed off. Lastly, Wallace walking away from the infield altercation put his hands on a NASCAR official which is a HUGE no no. 

All of this adding up, and all of this being said. I don't dislike Wallace, we had a great conversation in the MIS Media center about motorcycles in August. I also don't root for him, my drivers keep retiring. So I come into this with open eyes, not blinded by fandom nor distain. In my personal opinion I believe Wallace should be suspended, but mostly for his actions AFTER the crash. I think it needs to be harsh, but not too harsh. NASCAR needs to set a precedent here. 

Walking down the Hot racetrack and putting his hands on the official. That's it. IMO it should be a 2 race suspension plus some points and a monetary fine as well. I say 2 races because of the 2 violations I mentioned. I know the fandom of NASCAR wants blood demanding and indefinite suspension or at minimum remainder of the 2022 season which I think is just a tad too harsh. 

NASCAR is at a crossroads here. If they throw the book at him (depending on the extent), it leads to more rumblings of the "inconsistent" calls from the sanctioning body. If they do nothing (not likely) then you could see a mass exodus of fans from the sport showing a blatant act of favoritism. 

Those are my opinions, not yours. Let me know what your opinions are.