"I could hear him trying to catch his breath" - Bubba Wallace Jr.'s spotter shares details of his wreck at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Bubba Wallace Jr. was among the notable drivers providing fans with an entertaining event as NASCAR made history at the newly revamped Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Apart from the Daytona 500, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip was Wallace Jr.’s best race of the season. The checkered ground was already in his sights, but before he could touch it, he was eliminated by a violent last-lap wreck that dropped him to a 13th place finish.

In a recent interview, Wallace Jr.’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, addressed the wreck, stating it was the worst place for a wreck to happen. While speaking about Wallace Jr.’s state after the wreck, Kraft said:

“It’s as hard as Bubba’s ever hit the wall, People talk about Pocono but yesterday the abrupt stop he came to yesterday, I knew he was gonna be, the wind was gonna be knocked out of (him) pretty bad. He could not talk, I don’t know for a minute, a minute and a half or so. I could hear him trying to catch his breath.”

Bubba Wallace Jr. took advantage of the improved racing surface and delivered the assignment as he was supposed to. Bubba Wallace Jr. was battling for a top-five finish, giving Byron a hard time in the closing laps.

However, his plans to take third or fifth place were dismantled near the finish line. On Twitter, Bob Pockrass highlighted the wreck, stating that:

"Bubba Wallace explains what he was hoping for on the final laps, what happened and just how hard a hit that was. He said he is OK."

Wreck put Bubba Wallace Jr. in 13th place at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Wallace Jr. was waiting for the green flag at pole 19. He began gaining dominance in the second stage, running towards the front positions.

At the end of stage two, Wallace Jr. was running in the top ten. In the final stages, he got more aggressive, taking the lead with 11 laps to go and maintaining the position for three laps before taking the No. 24.

Despite losing the lead, he matched Byron’s pace, trying to reclaim the lead. The leading cars were running in the outer line before Blaney tried to take the lead inside and Bubba Wallace Jr. followed him.

Blaney ended up on the fence, dropping Wallace Jr. to 8th place before he could touch the finish line, with Justin Haley pushing him from the side and hitting the outside wall. His team stated on Twitter that:

"The 23 team almost had it! The 13th place finish doesn’t define the day. We were there at the very end and just didn’t get that final push we needed to stay out front. Strong points day with heads held high"