Denny Hamlin was befuddled by Bubba Wallace’s decision to park in Noah Gragson’s pit box after contact between the two wheelmen ended the No. 23’s afternoon in Loudon.
Perhaps Wallace took some inspiration from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. doing the same after his incident with Kyle Busch in the All-Star Race. Regardless, Hamlin didn’t exactly understand what Wallace’s motives were in that moment, even if the wreck hurt his standing as it pertains to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
“Yeah, I don’t know why that’s a thing some folks are doing now,” Hamlin said, regarding parking in a driver you’re mad at’s pit box, via the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I don’t know, if it makes you feel better, I guess, but yeah, I’m looking at the points, and the problem is if you have one more winner outside that gap then the cut-line moves, and then now you’re over a race behind.
“Right now, [Joey] Logano’s in, and he’s -190. Bubba’s -203. But in front of Logano is [Chris] Buescher, -153, so that’s another — that’s one more race. So yeah, they’re getting down to it, to where they’re going to need to perform really, really well, over the next seven or eight weeks. You know, better than they have recently, or really all year, or win a race. That’s the two choices you’ve got.”
Well, it’s evident we won’t be seeing Hamlin park in someone’s pit box if he’s ever mad at them. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why Wallace was annoyed with Gragson, but there’s one key difference between their incident and the one between Stenhouse Jr. and Busch — Stenhouse Jr. was wrecked on purpose, while Wallace was hit on accident.
Still, Bubba Wallace is an emotional driver, and he’s fighting for his life in the standings right now. That makes drivers do some crazy things sometimes, like what the No. 23 did at New Hampshire Motor Speedway over the weekend.
Bubba Wallace unveils camouflage Columbia, Luke Combs paint scheme for Nashville
Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace will be riding in style when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend for the Ally 400.
It seems as if Wallace’s No. 23 always has some fire paint schemes, and Sunday’s race will be no different, as Columbia and Luke Combs teamed up to help create a beautiful camouflage design for this weekend’s race. It’s not the first time the duo has adorned Wallace’s car, but it might be their best work.
Check it out below, before it gets to the track this weekend. Columbia unveiled the scheme with an awesome video package, featuring Combs himself admiring the ride.
Perhaps that’ll be the paint scheme that helps Wallace return to Victory Lane. He’s currently on the outside looking in as it pertains to the Cup Series Playoffs, but a win in Nashville would go a long ways towards fixing that.
Time will tell if he’s able to get the job done, but Bubba Wallace will have one of the nicest rides in Nashville this Sunday, that’s for sure. We’ll see if it gifts his Toyota any extra speed.
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