Bubba Wallace definitely needs to give his guardian angel a massive pay raise. At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he had a couple of near-misses during the race. In the end, he crashed out after hitting the wall, but it could have been so much worse. As it turned out, the whole thing started when Erik Jones lost control of his car and crashed into the outside wall.
His #43 car was still in motion and spun back onto the track. At the same time, Wallace used some insane reflexes to dodge the Petty GMS Motorsports car. However, the ride was not over for the 23XI Racing driver, as he spun towards the inside wall. Then, he had a second narrow miss, as the incident occurred near the pit lane exit.
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How did Bubba Wallace get lucky twice?
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Apparently, his projected trajectory nearly crossed paths with the exiting pace car. Fortunately, the pace car driver had enough forethought to stop and let the out-of-control car slide ahead of him. Had he continued, it would have been a very nasty incident. In fact, the scene almost unfolded similarly to when Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a track drying truck.
In the end, his race was compromised and he finished all the way down in 25th place. Meanwhile, it was race over for Erik Jones, as his car was far too damaged. Sadly for Wallace, this was his lowest finish in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. However, considering that he had two back-to-back near misses, he should be cut some slack.
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Up until then, he had been running at a decent pace and could have enjoyed a good finish. On the bright side, teammate Kurt Busch finished the race in 13th place, earning him a great points haul. Now, Bubba Wallace will have to regroup and hope for a better performance at the Phoenix Raceway next weekend.