Bubba Wallace got off to an impressive start to the 2024 season. He recorded back-to-back top-5 finishes at Daytona and Atlanta, lifting hopes of improving on his previous season. However, Wallace’s fortunes started taking a downturn in Las Vegas, where he dropped to a meager P35 finish. On-track aggression was a major cause. At the most recent Circuit of the Americas race, Bubba Wallace got caught in a three-car wreck led by Corey Lajoie. But as it turns out, another driver managed to get on his nerves as well.

Bubba Wallace cussed the Legacy driver in COTA

Corey Lajoie was posed for a good race, starting from the 5th spot. But then he fell back immediately, collecting both Martin Truex Jr and Bubba Wallace in a three-car sandwich crash. All cars were damaged, but both MTJ and Wallace directed their anger towards the No. 7 car. However, Wallace had reason to unleash his temper toward another driver, John Hunter Nemechek.

Driving under Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club, Nemechek started off in the 20th position. He was only able to qualify in three laps due to a battery failure. During the Cup race as well, he was not able to improve his qualifying spot, finishing in 21st place. However, Nemechek did try to adopt an aggressive approach in the process.

Caught on the FOX cameras, the end of stage 1 witnessed a short but steamy interaction between the No. 42 and the No. 23 cars. On lap 15, Nemechek suddenly nudged Bubba Wallace, spinning him around a little. The latter shared an expletive over the radio. He fumed, “Jesus Christ. F**k 42”. Yet Wallace regained speed and managed a 15th-place finish.

John Hunter Nemechek had previously dropped to the Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series. He worked his way back into the Cup level this year, driving for Jimmie Johnson at Legacy Motor Club. Yet he is not in the good books of irate drivers like Bubba Wallace, who recommended Corey Heim to replace Nemechek as the reserve driver for 23XI.

Wallace and Nemechek were both involved in a respectable joint venture at the start of this year. Bubba was optimistic about working with No. 42 then.

Wallace looked forward to a “fun time” with Nemechek

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Bubba Wallace was intent on improving his road course performance. He scored his best road finish of 5th place at Indianapolis in 2022. Last year, he asked six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon for advice. Additionally, he reached out to Toyota Racing Development for “some massive help after my road course career in the Cup Series.” Accordingly, Toyota put a car together for Wallace, Nemechek, and Corey Heim for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Bubba Wallace had shown enthusiasm about this venture. “I told Toyota whatever it takes to get more seat time, whatever you have to do. And they brought this to me and said I’d be with John Hunter and Corey Heim and I knew it would be a fun time.”

Yet little did he know that John Hunter Nemechek himself would throw a wrench in his plans to score big on the first road course of the season at COTA.

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