23XI car owner Denny Hamlin and the driver of the #11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, Denny Hamlin had pointed comments regarding Bubba Wallace and his in-car radio leading up to the race Kwik Trip 250 at Road America earlier this month.
Bubba Wallace via NASCAR on FOX YouTube
Wallace lashed out at his crew chief Bootie Barker during the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in June after his pit crew failed to tighten his wheel properly during a pit stop.
Barker apologized telling Wallace, “Obviously, we are a lap down. I apologize for that.”
Wallace responded, “Leave me the f*** alone, dude. Don’t talk to me the whole f***ing entire race.”
Barker replied, “I am, and we’re not out of it. Keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll be just fine. I know you are pissed and you deserve to be.”
RELATED: NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace Loses Temper With His Crew Chief: “Leave Me The F*** Alone”
Wallace would end up finishing 12th. He would address his comments while speaking to the press in the lead up to the race at Road America describing it as “passion.”
He explained, “Passion. Want to win. Got to win. Have the team capable of winning. Car is capable of winning. So that just creates passion. With passion comes frustration. So just got to manage it.”
When asked if his comments directed toward Barker were acceptable, Wallace replied, “In the heat of the battle, you talk to your team, they understand. Talked to Bootie, he understands. He understands the frustration. That’s the biggest thing.”
“Outsiders always going to have a comment,” Wallace continued. “Hell, I congratulated Cindric in my post-race interview and was getting crap for it saying that I didn’t give him enough credit. Damn. Fine. I just finished second. Just said good job. But that’s Bubba Wallace for you.”
#NASCAR … Bubba Wallace discusses his radio comments to crew chief Bootie Barker last weekend at Nashville and where they stand. pic.twitter.com/MyVM5WKfIK
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 2, 2022
When asked if this frustration is different because he has a fast car, Wallace answered, “Frustration is frustration. You want to win. It’s the same passion that I’ve had ever since I started. Knowing that I have the confidence, you know, more than ever now, especially with the team that I am with, and the people that are on the team, and what we are able to do.
“You know, showing up and being fast right off the truck last weekend was a huge confidence booster for all of us,” Wallace explained. “Continue to say the first half of the season is nothing to brag about at all.”
He continued, “And so when you come back after a reset and seems like we take ourselves out of races. We just got to stop doing that. I’ve got to rebound. I got to stay in it mentally and deliver the best results. So, it’s just a big learning curve for everybody.”
Finally, when asked if he would change what he’s doing on the radio, Wallace replied, “No, just don’t key up. Simple as that.”
Bubba Wallace says his team understands he will get frustrated in situations like he had last week at Nashville.
Wallace: “I’ve got to rebound. I’ve got to stay in it mentally.”
Will he do anything different? “Just don’t key up. Simple as that.” pic.twitter.com/BGJlfjdoMB
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 2, 2022
RELATED: WATCH: Wild Wreck Takes Out Nearly The Entire Field In The First Leg Of The Virginia Triple Crown
Hamlin commented on Wallace’s in-car radio saying, “You can’t embarrass the race team. That’s for sure. I think he knows where we stand on it. And hopefully continues to be better.”
Denny Hamlin said a driver can’t embarrass a race team, and that hopefully Bubba Wallace continues to get better with his in-car radio comments to his team: pic.twitter.com/SNQW2GoYoX
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 3, 2022
Former crew chief and current NASCAR analyst for NBC Steve Letarte also weighed in on Wallace’s comments saying, “There’s two sides to this coin. The first side, I’m going to defend Bubba that this issue on pit road for the 23 is not a one week thing. Bubba didn’t lose his mind because they had a great car and this is the first time they’ve had a hiccup on pit road.”
“This has been a recurring issue for the 23 car. And I believe the fuse was longer than any of us understand and he finally got to the end of his fuse,” he added.
Steve Letarte via NASCAR YouTube
Letarte then stated, “The other side of the coin, is it’s still just unacceptable. The simple fact is a lot of people spend a lot of money, a lot of men and women work a lot of hours to get the best finish possible, and when you get to that emotional state of frustration, while it can be defended at times, it then removes the opportunity of the best finish possible. That’s really what we’re talking about here.”
“Let’s take a motion out. If I’m Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, I am having a conversation with Bootie. I am listening to his concerns, like I said, Bubba’s not wrong with some of the stuff he said. That’s what makes this hard. But I’m confident in saying that Mike Wheeler, and Bootie Barker, and 23XI — I am confident they are trying to improve on their issues,” Letarte continued.
Steve Letarte via NASCAR YouTube
“I don’t believe they are sitting on their hands just saying well it’s magically going to get better,” he stated. “I believe they’re trying. Bubba has every right to be frustrated. But the point is, there is a time and a place. And what happened in Nashville cost the 23 positions at the end of the race.
“Execution is a great word and we throw it around like it’s easy to do,” he noted. “It is not. These races are very hard to not just win, but to execute — I won’t even say flawlessly — just average. There’s a lot of ways to lose a race.”
“So I love Bubba. They had a great car, great speed. I think that’s what made the pain worse, but you cannot get to that point of communication. You get to a point where you’re now doing added damage to yourself and to your race team,” he concluded.
Wallace is currently outside the playoff picture in 24th place with seven races until the first round of the playoffs begin in September with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
What do you make of Wallace’s comments to his crew chief? What about Hamlin’s comments on what Wallace said?