Bubba Wallace was not racing for the championship. Moreover, the 23XI driver was not even driving his own car. But that doesn’t mean that his actions at the Las Vegas Super Speedway won’t have any repercussions. Here is why Dale Earnhardt Jr is worried about Michael Jordan and 23XI Racing after Wallace’s retaliation.
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In an episode of Dale Jr Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr expressed his concern over the grave impact that Wallace’s actions might have on 23XI Racing. During the conversation, Earnhardt Jr revealed that he thinks that NASCAR will look at the situation the same way they did with Noah Gragson. He said;
“I don’t know what the multiplier is from the Xfinity to the Cup – anybody’s guess on what that is. If Gragson is 30 points and $30,000 dollars, then I’d say that sounds like 100 points and $150,000 fine coming to Bubba and 23XI.”
Furthermore, Earnhardt explained how this will affect the owners, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. According to him, the former basketball player, who is worth $1.7 Billion and the Joe Gibbs racing Daytona 500 champion will have to pay up a penalty that can burn a hole in their pockets.
Dale said; “The tough part about that I think is that they put Bubba in the #45 for the owner’s points. There’s some monetary gain for them to try to finish as well as possible with the #45 and the owner’s points. If they get a sizeable owner’s point penalty, that’s obviously not a good thing. And that might be interesting to see how that rolls out.”
However, Dale Earnhardt Jr need not worry. NASCAR has announced its verdict for Wallace and things definitely didn’t roll out the way Earnhardt anticipated.
How did NASCAR punish Bubba Wallace and Michael Jordan?
NASCAR has established that Bubba Wallace deliberately spun Kyle Larson at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After investigating the matter, the governing body termed Wallace’s retaliation as a ‘dangerous act.’ And as a penalty, the 23XI driver has been suspended from the next Cup Series race at Miami-Homestead Speedway.
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The suspension largely falls under NASCAR’s behavioral policy. After spinning out Larson on track, Wallace walked up a live track to confront the Hendrick Motorsports driver and shoved him multiple times. However, the governing body said that the suspension handed down was for his actions on the track.
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WATCH THIS STORY: “There Is No More Running in the Back..” – Michael Jordan’s Blunt Message That Caught Bubba Wallace Off Guard
Wallace’s suspension is a first after the 2015 Matt Kenseth incident. A NASCAR executive, Steve O’Donnell recently explained; “When we look at how that incident occurred, in our minds, (it was) really a dangerous act that we thought was intentional and put other competitors at risk.”