When the weather gods had decided to rain on NASCAR’s L.A. Parade, the sport had to make a quick decision to go ahead with the clash at the Coliseum on Saturday instead. And while many fans who had made plans to travel to Los Angeles on Sunday were left disappointed, the action-packed race that unfolded certainly made up for that.

From Denny Hamlin’s iconic victory speech to Ryan Blaney’s heroic drive back to the podium, we even got to witness some iconic moments. But perhaps the most unexpected incident occurred between Hamlin’s 23XI drivers, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.

When Hamlin was running up front for victory, the battle at the near end of the top ten was intensifying between Wallace Reddick and Alex Bowman, and things ultimately reached their boiling point, with Wallace taking the biggest hit out of the two. While no words were exchanged between the two drivers, the team radios during the incident certainly showed us that tensions seemed to be rising within 23XI Racing.

Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick ‘Clash’ at the Coliseum

After final practice had set the qualifying grid for the 2024 Clash at the Coliseum, there was perhaps no man more pleased than Denny Hamlin. Not only had the JGR driver bagged pole position, but his drivers had also put themselves in competent positions. Tyler Reddick had qualified 11th in the #45 Camry XSE, while Bubba Wallace led their effort from 9th position.

While the battle during the race was fierce between Reddick, Wallace, Bowman, and the other drivers surrounding the top ten, an incident between the three near the end of the race resulted in heartbreak for Wallace.

With Alex Bowman lining up a move down the inside of Reddick and misjudging the space the three would have, the #45 was forced to move toward Wallace to avoid contact on the inside. This ultimately resulted in Wallace getting spun around, triggering a pileup affecting Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, and Michael McDowell.

The team radios immediately lit up with chatter from the 23XI garages. Reddick’s spotter, Nick Payne, called out the incident in disbelief, “Yellow’s out. Yellow. Yellow. Yellow. He just f***n dumped us.” While the #45 garage was focused on Bowman and Reddick’s incident, Wallace, who further got dumped by his teammate, was clearly fuming.

Voicing his frustration, Wallace told his spotter, Freddie Kraft, “Go ahead and tell your buddies up there I’m in ‘F*** It’ mode”. And though you would think spotters from the same team would be buddies, that perhaps not be the case after such a run-in! Kraft retorted, “I ain’t got no buddies up here!” While that was the most heated it got between the two sides, it’s safe to say tensions are rising within 23XI after that incident.

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Although Wallace recovered from this and another spin triggered by his run-in with Kyle Larson, finishing 12th, both Reddick and Wallace could have finished within the top ten if the two had coordinated. So even though Hamlin took to victory lane, perhaps the pedestal was knocked a few inches down by 23XI’s performance. And it looks like Wallace’s run-in with Larson isn’t doing the team any favors either.

Did Bubba Wallace get served with Poetic Justice by Kyle Larson?

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After the heated moment with Reddick had passed and the #23 Toyota Camry XSE was settling into the flow of things, the incident with Kyle Larson toward the end of the race derailed Wallace’s hopes of making it back to the top ten. Throughout the closing stages, Larson and Wallace were battling at the restarts. At one such point, Wallace pushed past Larson to move ahead, causing Larson and Ty Gibbs to tangle and the JGR driver to spin out.

Soon enough, Larson had enough of Wallace’s driving style. He retaliated by hitting the #23 car’s back bumper on the final lap of the race, which saw Bubba Wallace get spun out. While it felt like Wallace was eager to make up for lost time, it seems his eagerness may have cost more than he anticipated.

After the Clash at the Coliseum, Larson reflected on his incident with Wallace. “I haven’t seen any replays from the last restart, but he got me again and then got me again in the next corner,” Larson was quoted by PennLive. “I think at that point that was three times to my none, so I wanted to get him back before the checkered. I wasn’t trying to spin him out or anything.”

Larson went on to say that the blows exchanged between the pair were largely triggered by Wallace’s moves. He concluded, “I was just trying to shove him through the corner like he was doing to me, and he ended up going around. (It was a) Product of this racing and finally reaching my limit, I guess, but yeah, just how it goes.”

So with the start of the 2024 season certainly not going Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing’s way, do you think the team can turn their fortune around in time for the Daytona 500?

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