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via Imago

via Imago

After having ended the Talladega race in a crash, Bubba Wallace has once again succumbed to a similar fate running at Monster Mile. With 72 laps to go in the race, the 23XI Racing star was clipped by Zane Smith, which sent the No. 23 Toyota sliding on the backstretch and sparking the big one. William Byron’s No. 24 and Christopher Bell’s No. 20 car got mixed into the pile-up and incurred heavy damages that were beyond repair.

Wallace was starting to show some real pace and had made his way inside the top 10. Both Bell and Byron were running inside the top 20. Fans weren’t thrilled to see their favorite drivers end the race on a sour note and came down hard on the Spire Motorsports driver for triggering the accident.

Bubba Wallace is looking to avoid encounters with squirrels on the racetrack

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With a string of good finishes at Martinsville and Texas, it looked like the 23 team was building momentum for a big result. However, Talladega brought the worst team coordination we have seen in a while, which resulted in a DNF finish for Wallace. And to make matters worse, he found himself in a similar situation today at Dover.

Just when it looked like the 30-year-old was making gains and staring at a better finish, tragedy struck. Zane Smith, coming off Turn 2, bumped into the No. 23 car, which resulted in a big pile-up. Not only Wallace but even Bell and Byron came off the worst of the incident and had to exit the race with no points to show for their efforts.

Frustrated with his continued run with bad luck, the 23XI driver after the accident said, “I don’t know. Right now, I can just sit here and have a long ride on the golf cart, figuring out what you want to say. And I guess turning 30, you gotta be a dad and be more mature, so it’s a bummer. It’s not the result we needed back-to-back DNFs.”

He further sent off some warning shots aimed at Smith. “Proud of the effort we put every week, just unfortunate. No results to show for. We just go on to Kansas, where hopefully we’re not around any squirrels, and kick their a**.”

This time around, fans weren’t quick to jump the gun in blaming Wallace for the wreck. Having known it was Smith who engineered the crash, they didn’t pull any punches in their condemnation of the driver with the replies on social media.

NASCAR fans react to a brutal crash sparked by Zane Smith

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Upon viewing the replay, it was clear that Zane Smith was the one who initiated the wreck. Fans were quick to remind the driver of his abilities via their replies on X.

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Pointing out how unlucky Bubba Wallace has been with two consecutive weeks, a fan wrote, “Bubba got Bubbaed this week … Smith ran out of ability.”

Some fans even demanded that Smith be demoted out of Cup Racing. Another fan even suggested that ARCA racing might be the place where the driver could relearn racing. “Zane Smith, get ready to re-learn ARCA buddy”.

Reflecting on Christopher Bell’s unfortunate run, a JGR fan replied, “Terrible luck for Bell. seems he gets wrecked every week”.

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Making the most of the moment, a user pointed out how Trackhouse Racing was potentially looking to replace Daniel Suarez by bringing Smith in. “Remember when Suarez was gonna be replaced by Zane Smith? Pepperidge Farm remembers…”

While the online community has already taken sides, do you think the criticism directed toward Zane Smith was justified? Let us know in the comments below!