Bubba Wallace delivered a commendable performance in the first two races of the season. Securing a spot in the top-5 in both Daytona and Atlanta, his confidence levels shot up. But that height of motivation came crashing down in Las Vegas. A technical snag dragged him 10 laps behind in the race.

Wallace started in P5, but soon after entering stage 2, he halted at a pit stop that would prove detrimental to his winning efforts. His pit crew struggled to get a lug nut off the left front tire. Besides losing precious time, Wallace was also handed a pass-through penalty for having too many pit people on the track. However, racer Corey Lajoie is lenient toward the pit crew.

Bubba Wallace faced a hurdle almost impossible to cross

Corey Lajoie drove a significant portion of the Pennzoil 400 race among the top 10 racers. But the No. 7 driver for Spire Motorsports got a flat tire and spinout with 33 laps to go. He finished 32nd, which dropped his rank to 17th in the overall standings. Recently, Lajoie talked about similar technical difficulties that fellow NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace faced.

In a recent episode of his ‘Stacking Pennies’ podcast, Corey Lajoie sat down with Skip to discuss at length the lug nut mishap. Lajoie at first commented on one of the pit crew, “When you’re on the carrier jumping on the torque wrench, you’re not having a good day.”

Skip then described the device used to try to yank out the lug nut, “I like that you called it the Ugga Dugga 5000, but I call it the Thor’s Hammer….it looks like a Gatlin gun….if you tighten it with that, it (lug nut) ain’t coming off….right when you cut it, it relieves the pressure, like pops open.”

But Thor’s Hammer could not harness its thunderous power that day. Skip elaborated, “If the Jackman puts the left rear on, and just turns and cuts the jack, and trusts that the left front is gonna be tighter..there’s a lot of time in that. So if you come back and you rush the trigger, and the gun spins a little bit and the hang is flat….your gun is spooled up and it catches those threads, it’ll almost pull the nut out of the gun.It’ll tighten so hard and so fast that you’re not able to get the nut back off.”   

Corey Lajoie, appreciating the explanation, added his own opinion about the fiasco, “It was perfect, too perfect.”

After the Ugga Dugga 5000 failed to do its magic, the pit team had to cut off the lug nut with a saw. Bubba Wallace could hit the track again only after that, but this time way behind other racers. His crew chief, Bootie Barker, called the issue “just a subtle thing”, not revealing the real issue in case other teams take down notes.

Bubba Wallace is looking ahead in the following race, especially with an impressive sponsor having his back.

Wallace is sporting Air Force look for Phoenix challenge

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During the off-season, 23XI Racing announced a new benefactor Bubba Wallace. None other than the Air Force will be sponsoring the No. 23 Toyota driver for his 2024 season. The team recently released a new color combo for Wallace’s ride. It has a gray and blue base, which blends well with the Air Force logo on the hood.

Wallace had driven a US Air Force-sponsored car previously when he raced for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2018-2020. “It’s really special to once again be partnered with the men and women who make up the United States Air Force,” Wallace said.

“We are thrilled to enter into this new partnership with 23XI Racing, and to once again have Bubba Wallace as our Air Force driver. This dynamic and iconic organization shares our commitment to excellence, speed, and teamwork, along with winning,” said Brigadier General Christopher Amrhein, AFRS commander.

Bubba Wallace could not pull out his Skillset at Las Vegas due to technical setbacks. But as they say, what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts. So, we are hoping to see Bubba Wallace thunder back to the track in Phoenix with added power.

Bubba Wallace Content Despite $46,440 Turbocharged Toyota Outing Ending in ‘Flats’