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Bubba Wallace Handed the “King of Squirrels” Crown By NASCAR Fans Over “Mature” Dover Rant

Published 04/28/2024, 11:30 PM EDT

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It was a decent run at the Dover International Speedway until a late lap 329 incident spoiled the party for Bubba Wallace. This marked the season’s second consecutive DNF for the 23XI Racing star. Wallace began the race from the 10th spot, engaged in a competitive battle throughout Stage 1, and finished P6, which marked a solid beginning to the race. Continuing to vie for the position, Wallace consistently performed and finished P10 in Stage 2.

Everything was going fine until Zane Smith made contact with the #23 car of Wallace, causing a significant crash that also involved William Byron and Christopher Bell. Now, what are his opinions on the consecutive DNFs?

Regardless, Bubba Wallace is eyeing a big win at Kansas

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Despite a disappointing end, Wallace’s boss, Denny Hamlin, received a checkered flag again after a tremendous drag race with Kyle Larson. The win at Dover eventually marked the 54th win for Hamlin in NASCAR. But Wallace seemed really disappointed after a consecutive DNF. He did not want to pass a direct comment, as he feels that, with his age, one should be mature enough to avoid all that.

Wallace said, “I don’t know. I’m going to just sit here. And you have the long ride over here on a golf cart to figure out what you want to say. And I guess turning 30, going to be a dad. You got to be more mature. So it’s the bummer. Hate it for the Xfinity US Air Force Toyota. It’s not not the result we needed, back to back DNFs.”

Wallace further conveyed that his crew chief, Bootie Barker, had accurately predicted earlier in the week that they would have to work extremely hard for Dover for its nine-degree banking on the front and back stretches. Starting from practice all the way to the race. He mentioned that Barker warned that it wouldn’t be easy at the World’s Fastest One-Mile Oval and could involve a quite unattractive process.

“The wrecking out wasn’t going to be pretty, but we had to grind. And proud of the effort we put in every week. Just unfortunate, no results to show court. But we’ll just go on to Kansas where hopefully we’re not around any squirrels. We’ll go kick their a**,” he added.

The reference to “squirrels” likely alludes to the idea of avoiding unpredictable or chaotic situations. Wallace’s hope is that the upcoming race in Kansas will be smoother and devoid of unexpected incidents. He did take a little dig at Zane Smith for having him wrecked. However, leaving everything aside, the fans, being fans, took the ‘squirrel’ part seriously, and in turn, threw massive shade at him. Let’s see how they are getting involved in this.

Fans gave back the ‘squirrel’ tag to the 23XI driver

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The comment section of the post is filled with hilarious comments, all mocking Bubba Wallace in some way or another. Labeling a fellow driver a squirrel was not taken lightly by fans. They simply do not forget how he does the same to the rest of the races.

One fan commented, “said the 🐿️” with a squirrel emoji.

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Someone else labeled him as the “King of the Squirrels”

Another fan lauded Bubba Wallace’s handling of the disappointment, yet suggested that it might be premature to refer to others as squirrel. “I respect the way Bubba handled that disappointment, but it might be too soon to call others squirrel.

Someone else brought forward the “laws of attraction” logic, saying “You attract what u are.”

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There were other comments too, where people mentioned that it will be better for him if he accepts that he is the squirrel himself. “When he accepts he IS the squirrel, it will be better for him!

Going ahead at Kansas after a break of a couple of weeks, Wallace expects to start things afresh. Will he again meet a “squirrel” in the upcoming Kansas race, or will he get transformed into one? It would be interesting to note what is kept for us on the track.

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Written by:

Mamata Mukherjee

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Mamata Mukherjee is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. Combining her love for writing and motorsports she has created some interesting and in-depth stories on drivers like Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joining ES with 3 years of experience in the field of writing, Mamata feels right at home in her role as a NASCAR Journalist.
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Edited by:

Shivali Nathta