“Got a shot from his teammate,” cried out the commentator, seeing the 23XI Racing teammates getting into each other at the Clash. After 90 days of nothingness, the NASCAR Cup Series extravaganza has kicked off, with the rescheduled L.A. race capturing the imagination of the community. The season opener was a treat for the fans who dropped down to the track to quench their thirst for action and drama despite the weather updates.

The 150-lap fixture at the Coliseum had a twist, two laps after the halfway mark between teammate Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, bringing up the field to a stop after the #23 was sent for a spin following the brief contact with Reddick, who was on the inside. To make matters more interesting, HMS driver Chase Elliott faced an unprecedented issue when his #9 car developed some faults amid the quarter-mile race.

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Around goes Bubba Wallace—teammates get into each other at L.A.

Exactly two laps after the 75th lap, Bubba Wallace gets his day turned around from the seventh spot after a brief contact from teammate Tyler Reddick sends the driver for a quick spin, bringing four cars to a standstill as the #23 Toyota blocked off others’ paths. Coming hot into the corner, Alex Bowman seemingly nudged the #45 Toyota in front of him, causing Reddick to overshoot and bang at the left rear of Wallace’s car.

The contact sent the driver for a spin, after which Bubba Wallace heard something along the lines of “Ain’t no friends up here.” While the teammates met each other on the track in a terrible way, HMS driver Chase Elliott developed a mechanical fault. The HMS #9 Chevy was seen limping back behind the wall after it developed a left-front suspension issue.

Elliott starts off 2024 with a disastrous DNF

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This wasn’t what the 2020 Cup Series champion had in his mind when he was gearing up for the pre-season opener at Los Angeles. After a rather dismal season in 2023, getting ousted from the tournament without even getting past the regular season, Elliott was looking for a major turnaround but what the driver got was a disastrous start to his 2024 campaign.

Shortly right he was getting some momentum, the #9 driver found himself not knowing what was wrong with his car, at first. Elliott had to pull off the track at the NASCAR Busch Light Clash after a suspension issue caused his steering to go out. Elliott was heard saying, “Broke something here.” On the flip side, his teammates did pretty decently while the driver had to pick up the pieces and leave the track on a sour note with a broken suspension, ending his first Cup Series race of 2024 in dismay, finishing not last but second last out of the 22-car field after the HMS crew couldn’t fix the issue.

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