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“Are You Gonna Die?” – Bubba Wallace Got a Harsh Reality Check During Funeral at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s “Graveyard” in 2018

Published 09/11/2022, 11:20 AM EDT

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An unforgettable incident for Bubba Wallace took place back in July 2018. A race and a wreck at the Tricky Triangle which the 23XI driver won’t ever be able to forget.

This horrifying accident happened at Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway. With fewer than 10 laps remaining, the then Richard Petty Motorsports driver slammed into the outside wall because of not having brakes. Coming into turn 1, he had lost control of his car and this eventually resulted in his car being totaled.

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Got no brakes,Bubba Wallace said on the radio just before the crash.

It was a miracle that he got out of such a devastating wreck without any serious injuries. The then #43 driver called this wreck “hardest one of my career”.

After the crash of #43, Dale Earnhardt Jr took to his podcast and shared his thoughts about the experience the drivers have in a near-death situation.

Dale Jr said, “When you have a failure and there’s been some kind of failure on the car where you’re either out of control — you don’t have control of the steering — or you don’t have any brakes, and so you’re flying into the wall.”

“And you know you’re going to hit it, but you have enough time to think about it. Normally in wrecks, you get hit, and the hitting just starts. You don’t have time to think about, ‘Oh, I’m about to hit this, and this is going to hurt.”

“But in that rare situation that Bubba described where something breaks and you’ve got time to think, like you’re heading toward this wall at 180 miles an hour and you’re gonna hammer that damn thing, you don’t know what the result’s gonna be. And you do think about your ability to survive it.”

He also added, “Are you gonna survive it? Are you gonna die? Are you going to be injured? You would be surprised what all you can cover in a mere couple seconds.”

WATCH: Bubba Wallace’s Spotter Freddie Kraft’s Selection of Kyle Larson Makes Tyler Reddick Chuckle

Although, Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin’s racing team driver is in a better state now. After a couple of weeks, he also got a chance with his crew to give a proper send-off to his #43 Chevy at “Graveyard”.

What was this funeral attended by Bubba Wallace?

A few weeks after the crash, Dale Jr’s podcast Dirty Mo Media released a video of Wallace paying his respect to #43 car’s last journey.

Yes, the car’s funeral. Somewhere near Mooresville, North Carolina is a graveyard of cars owned by the owner of JR Motorsports.

via Getty

So, Dale Jr, a former NASCAR Cup Series driver, and an entrepreneur owns a land named Dirty Mo Acres. This comprises more than 75 cars wrecked in NASCAR. The graveyard is a house for cars like Danica Patrick’s #10 Wonder Woman car which featured in her final race in 2017 at Kansas Speedway.

The place holds a deep history for NASCAR. Dale Jr expresses his opinion of the graveyard by saying, “a way to have something cool out here that someone will stumble upon some day and wonder what exactly was going on and why there are all these wrecked cars laying around.

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Such wrecks and crashes seem to leave an everlasting impact on racecar drivers. And in a sport like NASCAR, there always have been one major crash in each season.

WATCH THIS STORY: Bubba Wallace reveals his retirement plans at Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR team amidst contract extension

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All we can do is hope for less severity in these situations.

Let us know what you think about the impact that these crashes create on the drivers in the comments below.

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Written by:

Sashwat Deo

60Articles

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Sashwat Deo is a NASCAR Author at EssentiallySports. Having completed his undergrad in Mass Communication, he has set out to leave his mark in the field of journalism. Since he is an avid sports fan, it didn't take long for Sashwat to fall in love with the fast-paced and competitive world of motorsports.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh