Bubba Wallace had a frustrating outing at the Circuit of The Americas last Sunday. Facing his third DNF of the season, Wallace finished 37th. While heading into turn 12 on lap 11, Wallace slammed into the rear of Kyle Larson’s #5 while hitting the side of Erik Jones. And this contact resulted in Wallace losing control of the car.
However, the 23XI Racing driver’s post-race comments generated more interest than the incident itself. Pointing out how Wallace said that he needs to be replaced, Door Bumper Clear podcast’s co-host Casey Boat asked Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft to share his opinion.
Freddie Kraft explains how Ross Chastain messed up Bubba Wallace’s rhythm
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Explaining how Ross Chastain had to do something with the incident, Kraft said,
“Obviously, he [Bubba Wallace] got into a corner, way too hard. I think that though, he was getting a run on the #1 [Ross Chastain] down off of the 11 and the 12 and it looked to me like the #1, for whatever reason, the #1 checked up. I think we were getting ready to commit to making a move and the #1 maybe checked up before that or just backed up his entry a little bit.”
After giving a brief description of the events at COTA, Freddie Kraft explained how the #1 messed up Wallace‘s rhythm, pushing him away from his mark. He shared,
“So, I think to avoid the #1 he kind of swerved out of line. But then that kind of threw off his breaking and we just got in there way too hard. I mean I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t thought about it. It’s just what it looked like.
“It looked like #1 kinda just messed his rhythm up a little bit.
“And then when he avoided the #1 it was like ‘Oh sh*t! I am now way past my mark.’ Just kinda locked him up and slid into whoever it was. I think it was [Erik] Jones and [Kyle] Larson.”
Although Kraft was glad that the incident did not damage Erik Jones’s or Kyle Larson‘s cars, he did admit that the contact destroyed their vehicle. Moreover, he also expressed his disappointment with Wallace’s post-race remarks about replacing him and said that Wallace has the habit of being too harsh on himself.
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Apart from Freddie Kraft, DBC’s co-host TJ Majors also disapproved of Bubba Wallace’s post-race comments. Explaining how it is all a part of racing, Majors said,
“I don’t like the comments. I mean, there were a lot of mistakes there were made. And I know it looks like two weeks in a row but sometimes that happens; it’s racing, man. You never know what’s gonna happen every week. It can get pretty bad at some point. There was one year even with Dale Jr at Hendrick. That one year we had was really bad and we were struggling. But you just gotta keep going, man!”
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However, despite a string of forgettable races, Wallace’s spotter Kraft ensured that the team will come back stronger the next week. Moreover, he also said that they would be taking lessons from their prior mistakes and try to put up a better show in the coming weekends.
WATCH THIS STORY: Bubba Wallace Hilariously Reacts to “R&D” Claim After Outrunning Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin at COTA