October 29, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Bubba Wallace is ready to put suspension behind him and race

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Bubba Wallace was grateful to return to NASCAR Cup competition on Saturday.

Wallace was suspended from last week’s NASCAR Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway following an altercation with Kyle Larson, where he hooked the No. 5 Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After watching the action from the sidelines the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota was ready to rejoin his team.

“It was tough,” Larson said. “I tweeted out, ‘humble pie.’ I mean, I hated not being in that race and I was excited, that was one of those races that was circled on the schedule. Toyotas have been really strong at the mile-and-a-half stuff and really love running at Homestead. I was bummed and legit bummed that I wasn’t racing. I had to put that aside and still help the team go out and grow and continue to gain speed with those two drivers.

“What have I learned? You have to think before you do. In this sport, it’s the heat of the moment type things that get to you. Seeing that and going back and looking at a 10,000-foot view, definitely could have handled everything way different and been in a different spot. I put myself in a bad light, I put our team in a bad light, our sponsors--it’s just something that I’m not proud of, but moving on, moving forward and not allowed to make that mistake again.”

Wallace discussed the situation with his owners at 23XI Racing. He also spoke to Kyle Larson to clear the air prior to coming to Martinsville Speedway.

“We had a great conversation this week,” Wallace said. “I think the best thing for us is we both understood where our frustrations were and moving forward and how we both can handle those situations better.”

For Wallace, the suspension came at a time when the No. 45 23XI Racing team was picking up momentum. Since the Playoffs began, Wallace scored three top 10s and won his second Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

“I haven’t lost the edge that we’ve been on,” Wallace said. “The second half of this season has been really, really strong and the best of my career. Now I’ve kind of put a black light over this with this deal last week and I hate that because we still have the momentum on our side and a lot of things to do and excited to be back at the track and with the team here.

“We have Leidos on our car and great track for us here at Martinsville. Great track for us here at Martinsville. There’s a lot of good things going into this weekend. I’m not coming back with a vengeance or anything like that. I’m just going to continue to do what we’ve been doing.

Wallace, who turned 29 earlier this month, said the most difficult part about the penalty was simply “sitting out.”

“It’s unfortunate, but I tried to play a different part in the team than I was from the driving aspect and being there for the race,” Wallace said. “Tried to help John Hunter (Nemechek, the team’s substitute driver) get the feel that he needed for practice, qualifying and the race.

“Just sitting out and not being part of your normal routine was the toughest part for sure.”

Although Wallace accepted NASCAR’s decision, he expressed the desire for NASCAR to be more consistent when officiating similar situations.

“I totally accept the penalty and the repercussions that came from my actions,” Wallace said. “I talked to (Steve) O'Donnell (NASCAR Chief Operating Officer) and I talked to (Steve) Phelps (NASCAR president) and I said, ‘Hey I’m good with being the example if we can keep this consistent moving forward because it's happened multiple, multiple times this year and something that may still continue to happen, you know for other drivers down the road.

“I definitely learned my lesson, but we have to be consistent with this, no matter if it's here at Martinsville—or if it's at Daytona and Talladaga—we got to keep it consistent across all the boards and all the series. So that's that was the conversation. It's a good conversation.”