23XI Racing’s handling of Bubba Wallace ‘above and beyond’ NASCAR penalties
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Bubba Wallace is missing Sunday’s NASCAR race, and that is evidently not his only sanction after losing his cool in Las Vegas last weekend.
Denny Hamlin — who, along with Michael Jordan, co-owns the 23XI Racing team Wallace drives for — said Saturday that the team has dealt with matters in a way that goes “above and beyond” the penalties handed down by NASCAR.
Hamlin didn’t say what that means, choosing to keep those matters in-house.
“He understands where I stand, where the team stands, the values that we want to present on the racetrack, and he just didn’t represent it that well last week,” Hamlin said. “But you know, in the grand scheme of things, we’re very happy with his progress. And he knows he’s still got some stuff to work on when he gets out of the race car.”
Last week, Wallace intentionally wrecked reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in a dangerous act of retaliation. Playoff contender Christopher Bell got caught up in that wreck, smashing his car and denting his chances of becoming NASCAR champion. Bell remains in the playoffs but needs to rally.
Wallace was suspended for this week at Homestead-Miami, but he is not the only driver in the spotlight right now for causing trouble.
Two weeks ago, NASCAR issued $200,000 in fines after finding that Stewart-Haas Racing driver Cole Custer slowed on the backstretch of the final lap in Charlotte and helped teammate Chase Briscoe move up enough to reach the next round of the playoffs. Custer and his crew chief, Mike Shiplett, were both fined $100,000 after NASCAR determined Custer’s slowdown was deliberate.
“NASCAR’s like your parents a lot of times,” playoff leader and title contender Joey Logano said. “There’s a line of, you know, you’ve got to let the boys figure it out sometimes, and they’ll figure it out together and move on or Mom and Dad has to step in a little bit and control the situation because it’s gotten out of hand. So I believe NASCAR kind of decided it’s getting…
Source : espn
