Bubba Wallace argues against costly penalty that stripped him of runner-up finish
Upon crossing the finish line on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace thought he had secured a much-needed second-place towards his chances of making the Chase for the Championship.
Instead, NASCAR penalized him, sending the No. 23 to the tail-end of the lead lap (29th) for crossing below the ‘out of bounds’ line to improve his position. It’s an infraction that he strongly disagreed with afterwards.
The move in question took place on the final lap when Wallace took leaders Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar three-wide down the backstretch. In the moments after the race, NASCAR issued the penalty.
“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 under 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.
“We’ll see what we can do, but I did not advance my position. I stayed third from the entry of (Turn) 3 all until 50 yards away.”
Watch: Wallace questions penalty, addresses Gibbs run-in
Section 8.3.2 is the section of the NASCAR Rule Book in question.
“If NASCAR determines that a vehicle goes beneath the double painted lines to improve its position it will be black-flagged. If NASCAR determines that a vehicle forces another vehicle beneath the double painted lines in an effort to advance its own position, the vehicle may be black-flagged.”
There is a mechanism for Wallace and his 23XI Racing No. 23 team to have filed an immediate petition but that’s different from an appeal. After the race, Cup Series managing director Brad Moran said it cannot be appealed and the rule book spelled out the infraction.
The penalty represented a 27-point swing for Wallace, whom entered the race 77 points up and leaves 55 points up. He would have been 82 points above the cutline without the penalty.
“That’s massive for us,” Wallace said. “Everybody behind us in points is like, ‘Oh, 23.’ They see that, and they’re licking their chops. The position that we’re in, we’re not safe. We need to figure out what we need to do moving forward because, again, I did not advance my position.”
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