Did Bubba Wallace cause the wreck to aid Denny Hamlin's triumph at Richmond? NASCAR analysts weigh in on the conspiracy

In the aftermath of Denny Hamlin's controversial victory at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday (March 31), NASCAR analysts have delved into the conspiracy theory surrounding Bubba Wallace's involvement in a late-race incident.

While Martin Truex Jr. was cruising to a seamless victory in Richmond, a last-gasp 398th-lap contact between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson brought out the caution flag and sent the race into overtime. Truex subsequently lost the lead, and his teammate Hamlin, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, secured his second victory of the season.

While most of the drama has been surrounding Hamlin jumping the restart and NASCAR not penalizing the 43-year-old driver, a certain fan theory arose online surrounding Bubba Wallace. According to the speculations, Wallace, driver of the No. 22 Toyota for 23XI Racing, intentionally made contact with Larson to send the race into overtime, thus helping out his boss and the 23XI co-owner, Denny Hamlin.

Although the conspiracy, by and large, appears to be a long shot, Barstool's NASCAR analysts Spider and Large addressed the theory on a recent episode of the Rubbin Is Racing podcast.

"They said, 'Bubba works for Denny, caused the caution on purpose.' Wouldn't we have heard that? Like, even if there's a code word, 'The lion lays down in winter,' we would've known if there was some sort of Morse code going on," Large said.

Questioning the timing of such an alleged scheme, Spider added:

"I mean, I hear that, but at the same time, this early in the season? Like a regular season race for pretty much nothing on the line, Denny already has a win under his belt. If they're gonna do that, don't you think they'd save that (for later in the season?)"

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Denny Hamlin's crew chief demands penalty for multiple drivers involved in Richmond controversy

Following Hamlin's victory, drivers and fans voiced a steady demand to penalize the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for jumping the restart. Martin Truex Jr., who had to settle for a fourth-place finish despite leading the majority of the race, and Joey Logano, the runner-up of the race, demanded better authoritative decision-making from the sport's governing body.

In response to the controversy, Denny Hamlin's crew chief Chris Gabehart offered his perspective while speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Gabehart defended Hamlin's actions and called for a uniform approach to penalizing all drivers involved in similar situations. He said:

"Let me be clear. If you’re going to penalize the 11 car in that instance, you must also penalize the 19 (Truex), the 22 (Wallace) and the 5 (Larson). Because they were all laying back trying to time a run and that is also something that NASCAR says you can’t do."

After seven races, Martin Truex Jr. leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 270 points. Kyle Larson ranks second with 256, and Denny Hamlin, with 252, rounds out the top 3.