Ryan Blaney had plenty to celebrate following his win at the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway over the weekend, but he also had a two-word reaction when learning about Bubba Wallace’s controversial penalty during his postgame interview.
“That sucks,” Blaney said.
For Wallace, it absolutely does, delivering him a damaging points reduction during his playoff drive.
Wallace was delivered the penalty for a sequence that occurred on the race’s final lap Sunday, as Wallace chased Blaney with Carson Hocevar alongside.
Wallace dipped below the double yellow line to avoid contact, and NASCAR officials ruled he had advanced his position beneath the line, assessing a penalty per guidance outlined in the rule book.
But Wallace maintained he gained no advantage from the maneuver, protesting that he had remained alongside Hocevar coming out of the turn despite the opportunity to race ahead.
“It says advancing your position, which I did not do,” Wallace said. “I stayed third, and I was all over the brakes to make sure I did not advance. As soon as I turned, I was like, ‘I’m going to wreck,’ and got on the brakes, kept it underneath me and still ended up side-by-side. That move should have propelled me to the lead, and it didn’t because I knew it was wrong because my car did not like that move.”
Wallace eventually ended up ahead of Hocevar, then met with NASCAR officials for nearly a half hour following the race to plead his case, but to no avail.
The penalty dropped Wallace from a second-place finish down to 29th instead, providing a brutal hit to his points standing in the process.
The 27-point swing kept him at 13th place in the standings, much closer to the playoff cut line.
Fellow Toyota racer Ty Gibbs took issue with some of Wallace’s driving, and though he steered clear of talking about the penalty, he didn’t exactly shy away from letting Wallace know how he felt.
Gibbs, who finished fourth, confronted Wallace on pit road after the race, then spoke about the confrontation on Monday.
“I wouldn’t tell him sorry because he cleared himself,” Gibbs said. “Unfortunately, I showed a lot of disrespect. I don’t know. It seems like it didn’t really work out for him, but I was just trying to help him at the end by pushing him to the win.”
Wallace’s interpretation of events differed slightly.
“He had the opportunity to give there a lot, and he didn’t do that,” Wallace said. “So, when I told him that, he quickly went on the defense and said, ‘Don’t block.’ When you hit me square in the bumper, it means you just ran right into me. The block was clean. So, yeah, that’s Toyota teammates. Don’t race very well together.”
