Bubba Wallace disputes penalty after late-race move at EchoPark

It is difficult to digest, but Bubba Wallace saw a runner-up finish vanish in the blink of an eye at EchoPark Speedway. After the checkered flag fell on the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart, NASCAR handed down a post-race penalty to the No. 23 Toyota, citing a violation of Section 8.7.2.A of the rule book. The ruling stated that Wallace passed below the double painted lines to advance his position, resulting in a black flag that dropped him to 29th place.

Wallace is adamant that he did not break the rules. After the race, he went straight to the 23XI Racing hauler to review data with crew chief Charles Denike and director of competition Dave Rogers. The trio spent 31 minutes meeting with NASCAR officials, but the decision remained unchanged. Wallace argued that he was heavily on the brakes specifically to ensure he did not gain an advantage, stating, "I stayed third and I was all over the brakes to make sure I did not advance. As soon as I turned, I was like, ‘I am going to wreck.’"

The sequence of events on the final lap was pure chaos. Wallace shoved Ryan Blaney to the lead entering Turn 1, then darted to the bottom of the track while racing three-wide against Carson Hocevar and Blaney. Wallace dipped below the yellow line and remained side-by-side with his rivals through Turns 3 and 4 as a shove from Christopher Bell pushed Blaney to the victory. Wallace insists his car did not like the move and that he had to bail to avoid a wreck.

This incident marks a massive 27-point swing that leaves the 23XI Racing driver in a precarious spot. Between the final-lap penalty and a rough moment at the end of Stage 2—where Ty Gibbs bumped him out of sixth—Wallace finished the event with only nine points despite leading 11 circuits. Wallace remains 13th in the regular-season standings and is now 55 points above the cutline, having lost 22 points to it at this event.