Hours After Owning Up to His Mistake, Bubba Wallace Gets Called Out by Ryan Blaney for Late Race Decision That Crushed His Talladega Hopes

At the Talladega Superspeedway, Bubba Wallace was in contention to win on home soil. Had he triumphed, it would have been his second win at Talladega. Unfortunately, he had a massive tangle with Team Penske‘s Ryan Blaney and that ruined his chances of victory. After the race, Wallace was understandably frustrated and even flung his HANS device in anger.

Speaking after the race, Wallace told Noah Lewis, “Just got jumped by the #12. I pulled a late block; close block; and just sent us around. Not the #12’s fault, I honestly thought that he would leave me high and dry.

“Coming back around and just hate it, hate it for my team. That’s how it goes, so that was by far our best plate race that we’ve ever done. Hats off to the #23 group, Freddie [Kraft] up on top of the roof. A great day for us, just a crap result, hate it. I caused that one and Man! Thought it’d play out a little different obviously not in a wreck. I thought the move would happen, coming off to the tri-oval.”

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Talking about the final laps wherein he was involved in a battle for the checkered with Kyle Busch, Wallace said, “The way we were shoving and pushing, we were kind of getting each other out of whack. Instead of moving the momentum forward, when I got the move, it was ‘Okay, okay. Cool.’ Then it was all about defending, you can’t let your guard down for one second or you’ll end up in here.”

After Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney shares his version of events

Obviously, Blaney would not have been thrilled to be taken out of contention for his first win of the season. According to him, many drivers were running relatively similar fuel loads. He also insisted that he made the right call in sticking to the bottom lane for the restart. Blaney also revealed that he established some great teamwork with Aric Almirola. Unfortunately, Ty Gibbs in the #54 car threw a small wrench in his progress and Blaney tumbled to fourth.

Luckily, he was able to build up some momentum and reach 2nd. Without actually accusing Wallace, he spoke about his frustration with the race leaders for trying to”triple block” him, which triggered his wreck. Of course, he did acknowledge that there was nothing inherently wrong with blocking, but that it is tough with the Next Gen cars. Blaney did admit that despite the disappointing result, he was just happy to finish.

READ MORE: “You Can’t Let Your Guard Down for One Second” – Bubba Wallace Has a Brutally Honest Take on the Kyle Busch Tussle at Talladega