Elton Sawyer hints Bubba Wallace branded Roval stop-and-go penalty a ‘BS rule’ because of frustration over playoff elimination

Bubba Wallace didn’t hesitate to call out NASCAR for the rule that penalized him after Daniel Suarez spun him.

Elton Sawyer hints Bubba Wallace branded Roval stop-and-go penalty a ‘BS rule’ because of frustration over playoff elimination

Bubba Wallace (Via IMAGO)

NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer has responded to Bubba Wallace going against the rule that landed him a penalty at Roval even though Daniel Suarez spun him. The No:23 Toyota Camry driver was eliminated from the R-12 after failing to score enough points to finish above the curt line; the penalty hurt his chance big time.

Wallace, who started the race at P4, was solid in the first two stages that saw him collecting stage points, and was on the march to the front on the final stage with 22 laps remaining when Suarez caught him. Suarez got into the back of Austin Cindric, and the Penske driver spun Wallace. The TRD driver missed Chicane and rejoined the pack seven spots down.

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But under NASCAR rule driver who missed the Chicane has to make a complete stop before re-rejoining the pack. So Wallace was forced to stop at the front stretch, and he was dropped to P31. Wallace didn’t mince his words about the incident post-race. He said, “Honestly, it’s such a BS rule…We’re the only series I think that does that ass-backward. So, not surprised.”

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Sawyer, responding to the driver’s comments, said (H&T: Sportscasting), “But I think that the thing that I take out of that, not so much on the officiating side, was just the season that Bubba has had…I get it that when the race is over and now you’ve been eliminated that’s probably going to be something that’s on your mind and felt like it needed to be addressed.”

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Bubba Wallace had the best Road Course race of his career at Roval

The 2023 season has been undoubtedly the best season of Bubba Wallace’s career despite him not scoring a single. His improved performance in the Road Course has been the highlight of the season. It was an open secret in the garage that Wallace was just a below-average racer in RC tracks, but the 2023 run has proven he is capable of consistent top-15 runs.

Bubba Wallace and Tyler ReddicK (Via IMAGO)
Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick (Via IMAGO)

Denny Hamlin, the 23XI Racing co-owner and Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, after the race, was quick to praise Wallace for the improvement he showed. He parsed Wallace and his No:23 crew for the massive progress and admitted that if he had scored some playoff points, he would’ve found a way to get into the R-8.

“Let me a Homer here, He [Bubba] did a phenomenal job this weekend. Qualified up front, stage points, both stages – which is hard, by the way, because you’re going to have to come back to the front – and drove back up to 16th. So, I thought it was one of the… probably the best road course race that he’s driven,” Hamlin said in his podcast.

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