“It’s Unfortunate!” Bubba Wallace Fumes Over Costly Ty Gibbs Clash at Atalanta

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace was beyond disappointed with the Ty Gibbs incident that cost him a potential win at Atalanta.

“It’s Unfortunate!” Bubba Wallace Fumes Over Costly Ty Gibbs Clash at Atalanta

Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs (Via IMAGO)

The NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at Atlanta was long and wild, with the race being delayed for hours mid-way owing to heavy rain. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who has had a tough 2026, found himself racing upfront for win before his TRD teammate Ty Gibbs made a move on the last lap that cost him 25+ points, placing him closer to the cut-off line.

He was racing P3 with Carson Hocevar and race winner Ryan Blaney ahead of him, when he made an attempt to move to the inside to make it a three wide battle. But on his way down, the No:54 Toyota made contact with him and ruined his momentum, making him move outside the yellow line, which got him penalized. Despite finishing P2, he was awarded P29 as punishment. Talking to the media, the 23XI driver clearly disappointed with the JGR youngster.

I turned down and got super loose, so just to keep it straight, I ended up there. It’s unfortunate.  You can go back and look at the SMT.  I was all over the brakes trying to just get the spot back… It says don’t go below the yellow line to gain a position, which I didn’t.  I was still third, and I got a shove from the 54 (Ty Gibbs) to go to second.  So, technically, no positions were gained doing that. Again, SMT data shows me try to get it back, but the 54 just shoves us by here.

Bubba Wallace said after Atalanta race.

Further talking about the point, Bubba Wallace highlighted how Ty Gibbs defended himself during their post-race confrontation saying the incident happened because of the poor block from the No:23. But the veteran refused to buy that claim, as he insist that his move was clean and it was the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver that ruined the moment. He also highlighted how it is tough to race alongside TRD teammates on the track.

We’ll be fine.  He had the opportunity to give there a lot, and he didn’t do that. So, when I told him that, he quickly went on the defense and said, ‘Don’t block.’ When you hit me square in the bumper, it means you just ran right into me. The block was clean. So, yeah, that’s Toyota teammates.  Don’t race very well together.

Bubba Wallace added about the Ty Gibbs drama.
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Bubba Wallace is really disappointed with Atalanta results

Later talking about the same point to media, Wallace admitted that losing over 25 points due to the yellow line violation was clearly disappointing as he is too close to the cut-line for comfort. He is currently P13 in the table, with a 50 points advantage on the driver at P16.

Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst
Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst (via beyondtheflag.com)

Yeah, that’s massive for us. Everybody behind us in points is like, “Oh, 23.” They see that and they’re licking their chops. So, the position that we’re in, we’re not safe. But yeah, we need to figure out what we need to do moving forward because, again, it did not advance my position.

Bubba Wallace said.

In the same conversation, he also admitted that it was another race win that he missed out on and asserted that he needs to find ways finish races cleaner. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver with just six more races left in the regular season before the 10 race playoffs.

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