INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 05: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Bubba Wallace will not make the All-Star race thanks to Michael McDowell.
The NASCAR All-Star Race will be run without Bubba Wallace, who has been in the news plenty for his actions in support of racial equality and the Black Lives Matter movement, due to a pretty nasty crash caused by one of Wallace’s fellow drivers.
Wallace, who has made waves due to his vocal support of the BLM movement and his galvanization of the sport after a noose was found in his garage, saw his chances at making the All-Star Race end swiftly after Michael McDowell swiped his back bumper, causing Wallace to spin out.
Bubba Wallace himself was fuming after this collision.
Wallace, who is currently ranked 19th after three Top 10 finishes this year, officially missed the cut after this, as his lack of victories in this season or the prior season prevents him from making it into one of the sport’s more high-profile races. Rather than going for first one last time, which would have helped NASCAR put one of their biggest names in one of the sport’s biggest events, Wallace will have to watch the race in the garage after McDowell’s questionable bump.
Wallace was so irritated that he took his detached bumper and slammed it down on McDowell’s hauler door. Can anyone really blame him?
Wallace himself called McDowell a “joke” after sarcastically claiming that he is waiting on the text McDowell will send him after the fact. It’s clear that Wallace thinks McDowell did this intentionally, a possibility that can’t be ruled out at this juncture.
While it might be very difficult to find any smoking gun that proves this was intentional, Wallace seems to think that McDowell bumping the back of his car was totally avoidable and uncalled for. Either way, this is not a good look for McDowell as a driver.