Bubba Wallace Jr.’s spotter confident of Ryan Preece’s intentions during contact with Kyle Larson at last Sunday’s Bristol Dirt Race

Freddie Kraft was one of the many people to weigh in on the clash between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece last Sunday.

Kraft is the spotter for the #23 Toyota Camry TRD driven by Bubba Wallace Jr., as well as the co-host of the popular NASCAR podcast Door Bumper Clear on Dirty Mo Media. Kraft had his own opinions on whether there was intent behind the clash on the track last Sunday.

The Food City Dirt Race saw Kyle Larson retire after coming together with Ryan Preece late in the race. The contact that sent Larson out of contention was seemingly triggered by the Hendrick Motorsports driver pinching the Stewart-Haas Racing driver into the fence earlier in the 250-lap-long race.

Kraft based his arguments on Ryan Preece's intentions behind the wheel during the incident from similar situations from past weekends. He elaborated on an episode of the podcast and said:

"I think you saw a direct result of Denny Hamlin's penalty in Ryan Preece's post-race interview. If Denny doesn't get hammered for saying what he said, Ryan's going to come out and say, 'Listen, I raced that guy the way he raced me.' Kyle (Larson) doesn't realize he's the reason he's (Ryan Preece) is back there."

Freddie Kraft explained that Ryan Preece never explicitly admitted to having driven Kyle Larson into the fence in his post-race interviews. The #41 Ford Mustang driver was clearly livid with the latter after being pinched into the fence himself, which ultimately fueled the scenario.

It appears that Ryan Preece knew what he was doing, just as Kyle Larson knew what he had done to Preece earlier, causing the other to deliberately lift and take evasive action.

Ryan Preece's comments after the run-in with Kyle Larson at Bristol Dirt last Sunday

Ryan Preece went on to address what happened between him and the 2021 Cup Series champion during the race. The #41 Ford Mustang driver said:

"I was trying to run the top. It was real slick. Got loose and both ended up in the fence. I’m the guy that runs the bottom. I know (Larson) was making speed up top. I tried to move up there and we were just too loose. I still agree that a lot of people are going to stand their ground, but by no means was that intentional. I was just trying to get all that I could.”

NASCAR goes live from Martinsville Speedway next Sunday (April 16) for the final leg of the 2023 short track swing.