Occasions Where NASCAR Veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr Reacted to Bubba Wallace Incidents

NASCAR has always been a competitive sport, testing a driver’s patience and mentality time and again. Unfortunately, Bubba Wallace has been tested multiple times in his NASCAR Cup Series career. While many times he has come out with flying colors, sometimes he has struggled to keep his cool.

Interestingly, Dale Earnhardt Jr, who has enjoyed analyzing NASCAR post his Cup Series retirement in 2017, has more often than not had something to say about Wallace’s incidents. However, there is no common pattern to his reactions.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr reacted to Bubba Wallace’s emotional post-race interview

One such incident was after the Michigan race in 2022. After winning the pole for the main race, Bubba Wallace looked in great form. Interestingly, he led 23 of the 200 laps, standing a strong chance to win late in the race. However, it was Kevin Harvick who performed brilliantly, in the end, beating the Alabaman-born driver by just 2.903 seconds to triumph in the race.

Surprisingly, Wallace took it hard and blamed himself for the defeat. After the race, he got emotional as he spoke to NBC Sports reporter Parker Kligerman. He then said, “Replaying everything I could have done. Took the top there on the restart. Thought I could have with the 4. And just got to racing the 5 and the 22. The 22 did a good job of getting another Ford contract; helping a Ford win.”

Wallace adds, “All in all incredible weekend. Appreciate my team. Wish we could have got Toyota in Victory Lane. Wish we could’ve got McDonald’s back in Victory Lane. She was fast all week, man. I’ll wear this one on my heart for a while. I failed everybody.”

Despite a superb effort, the #23 driver was critical of himself. To this, Dale Jr came out supporting in his favor and demanded fans have empathy towards him. Speaking on his podcast “The Dale Jr Download”, he said, “Post-race we saw an emotional interview from Bubba Wallace.

“I feel like that as hard as it was to see Bubba in that emotion — of course when you’re watching somebody feel that way you can’t help but go, ‘Man, I want to put my arm around that guy and say hey, this is maybe the point of view you should take.’ I hope that it was a moment for everyone else to be a witness to the pressure that this guy is under.”

He adds, “Because, man, there wasn’t nothing fake about that. That was as genuine as someone can be in a moment like that. And I’m hoping that for the people that put a lot of pressure on Bubba and give him a lot of time and feed him a lot of criticism, especially, particularly online, I hope that those people can see really what this guy is dealing with on a daily basis.”

Naturally, someone with the experience of Junior saying this does add more weight to the audience. After all, the former Hendrick Motorsports driver knows how brutal the sport could get. While he supported Wallace in this case, he was quite critical of his act in Las Vegas last October.

Earnhardt Jr calls out Bubba Wallace after the ‘intentional crash’ with Kyle Larson

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It all happened while Kyle Larson was attempting a three-wide pass with Kevin Harvick in the middle. While Harvick moved out of the bunch, Larson slid his Chevrolet to shove Bubba Wallace into the wall. Angered by this, Wallace followed the HMS star and deliberately hooked him in retaliation. This saw the race end for both drivers along with collateral damage, Christopher Bell.

Things didn’t just end there. Wallace jumped out of his car toward Larson and started shoving the 2021 Cup Series champion. Eventually, NASCAR safety workers stepped in. While many from the sports community criticized it, Dale Jr too had his say on it.

In his podcast “The Dale Jr Download” Junior predicted the punishment Wallace would get. He said, “I think, if I had to guess, it’s gonna be 100 points, 100 driver points, and $100,000. Could be a little more on the monetary side, because of the speed, of going 150 mph and having that intentional crash.”

He adds, “There was also the issue of Bubba getting out of his car and walking down the apron. I think that NASCAR made a rule a year or two ago about walking down the track or walking out of your race car anywhere… Just leaving your car, I don’t know what the rule is.”

In fact, Junior added an interesting element there. He said, “The detail that NASCAR has, about what Bubba did with his steering throttle and all those things, will be massively detailed, way more that what we were able to show you on television. So they’ll have a lot of information to be able to make their decision. And I feel like with the information they have, they’ll be confident on what they decide.”

Eventually, NASCAR suspended Wallace for one race for intentionally wrecking Larson. While Dale Jr was critical of the 23XI Racing driver here, he supported him and his owner Denny Hamlin earlier this year.

A look at how Earnhardt Jr backed Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin against NASCAR authorities

It is no surprise how the Next Gen car has divided opinions. While the concept of making NASCAR a level-playing ground for everyone involved is intriguing, there is still a good amount of work left. In the meantime, there is one alarming issue, which is the safety of the drivers.

In fact, after the Clash at the Coliseum at the beginning of the 2023 season, both Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace were critical of the Gen-7 car. They complained about how the car is taking a physical toll on them. To this, Dale Earnhardt Jr came out voicing in their support.

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He spoke in detail about it on his podcast. The 2x Daytona 500 winner said, “Drivers are always going to be in some element of danger driving racecars. Drivers should never be satisfied with the situation they’re in. They should always be outspoken about with any concerns they have, such as Denny (Hamlin) and Bubba Wallace post the Clash,”

He adds, “They need to talk, they need to hold everybody accountable.” While Dale Jr said that, he was also mindful of the fact that NASCAR is working hard on making the car better race after race. However, it is always good to have someone of his stature being so actively involved in such critical affairs.

How Dale Earnhardt Jr celebrated Bubba Wallace’s first NASCAR win

It is always a great feeling for any NASCAR driver to record their first on-track victory. While Bubba Wallace hasn’t found it easy to do so, he eventually did in October 2021. Wallace achieved the feat at Talladega Superspeedway after rain arguably played a vital role in the outcome.

By registering his first-ever Cup Series victory, Wallace then became the first African American to win a Cup race since Wendell Scott in 1963 and second overall. Additionally, it was the first-ever victory for the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned 23XI Racing. Naturally, it got Wallace emotional and ecstatic.

However, Dale Jr didn’t hold back in expressing his delight for the #23 driver. He took it to Twitter to convey his happiness about Wallace’s win. His exact words were “So happy for @BubbaWallace”. It is amazing how Junior has always popped up at the right time for the 29-year-old.

Dale Earnhardt Jr and Bubba Wallace’s friendship off-the-track

Most certainly, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Bubba Wallace share a deep understanding and close friendship. While they haven’t been seen hanging out that frequently, it is how Junior pops up to support Wallace that speaks volumes about their relationship. In fact, just last year Wallace involved his sister in his ventures just like Dale Jr has done with his sister Kelley Earnhardt to form the JR Motorsports team.

Additionally, it was on Dale Jr’s podcast in 2019 that the Alabama-born driver first opened up about his depression and other intimate details. Despite his fame and popularity, it goes unnoticed how Wallace has struggled with mental health issues. In fact, his parents’ divorce in 2016 only made things worse for him. The 23XI Racing driver also shared how he has had a complicated relationship with his father.

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Naturally, if Wallace was able to share such sensitive details with Dale Jr, they must share a close bond. Most notably, Junior has always shown faith in the former Richard Petty Motorsports driver’s abilities. It would be interesting to see how he would react should Wallace qualify for the playoffs in the 2023 season.