At the end of Stage 2, Bubba Wallace was battling for a position inside the top five and a handful of stage points. However, while entering Turn 3, he lost momentum and slid up the track. He then pulled down the track in front of fellow Toyota driver Ty Gibbs. Contact was made and Wallace went spinning, denying him any Stage 2 points.
After the race, Wallace had a tense conversation with Gibbs over what transpired and they clearly disagreed.
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“We’ll be fine,” said Wallace. “He had the opportunity to give there a lot and he didn’t do that. And 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, so yeah, that’s Toyota teammates. We don’t race very well together.”
Watch: Wallace questions penalty, addresses Gibbs run-in
On Inside the Race, former Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte said of the run-in: “I just think that’s a super late block, and I think Ty Gibbs — he can maybe stomp on the brake, but I just don’t think Ty has a lot of time to react to Bubba right here.”
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Veteran driver Jamie McMurray was aligned with that take, adding: “Watch the fire come out of the pipes of Bubba (indicating Wallace got out of the throttle). You don’t have to go to SMT. If you just watch right below his number, you’re gonna see that Bubba drives into the corner. You can tell he starts to lose grip, he’s in a bad position because of the car in front of him. So he’s losing his momentum all the way to the start/finish line. I don’t know that Ty did a lot wrong.”
Wallace fought back to finish second with a much more friendly push from Gibbs, but was stripped of the result after NASCAR determined that he passed below the double-yellow line on the last lap. They also discussed that, calling it an “easy call” from NASCAR’s perspective.
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