Former NASCAR champion Joey Logano was critical of Bubba Wallace‘s actions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, saying the 23XI Racing driver could have cost Kyle Larson his life.
After Larson nudged Wallace into the wall during the race, Wallace moved down the track and hit Larson’s car, sending him into a spin and hard into the outside wall. After the drivers climbed from their cars, Wallace yelled at Larson and pushed him several times.
“Retaliation is not okay in the way it happened,” Logano said Tuesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR radio. “If he spun him to the infield, maybe it’s a little better, but right-rear hooking someone in the dogleg is not okay. I don’t know if everyone realizes how bad that could have been. That could have been the end of Kyle Larson’s career. That to me was what was on the line. Or his life. That is the worst spot to get right-rear hooked into a corner.
“He (Larson) might have flush-hit that thing in the side and game over. There’s no room for that. You can’t do that. If it’s under caution and you’re banging doors — I don’t know that that’s okay, but at least you’re not putting someone’s life at risk. I don’t like using cars for a weapon. Just get out and fight him. That’s fine if that’s what you really want to do and that’s how you want to handle it.
“You can make someone’s life hell if you want to racing them, but do i think just straight up splashing them into the wall is okay, no, because the consequences are way bigger than just a race. and you’ll live with regret the rest of your life. That’s the bottom line. If you seriously injure somebody in retaliation for something that wasn’t huge, I don’t think you can live with yourself after that. I don’t want to take that risk.”
Wallace apologized for the incident Monday night.
NASCAR is expected to announce penalties Tuesday afternoon.
Logano won Sunday’s race to advance to the Championship Four at Phoenix Raceway.
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Joey Logano: Bubba Wallace could have cost Kyle Larson his life originally appeared on NBCSports.com