"Caught up in a wreck you had nothing to do with" - NASCAR insider reacts to Kyle Larson wreck that dents Bubba Wallace's playoff chances

NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi shared his thoughts on a recent wreck involving Kyle Larson that impacted Bubba Wallace's playoff hopes. The incident at Michigan International Speedway left the 23XI Racing driver with a disappointing 26th-place finish.

The race at Michigan took a turn for the worse when Larson spun out. After a tire problem caused a caution on lap 108, Larson pitted and restarted in ninth place. He made a mistake going into Turn 3 and started a crash involving Bubba Wallace and five others. Wallace ended up with just one point outside of the playoff cutoff.

Jeff Gluck and his co-host Jordan Bianchi discussed the incident on 'The Teardown' podcast. Both agreed that the wreck was a tough break for Wallace.

"You have to feel for Bubba Wallace....The team's been running really well... They come here, qualify well, race well—great move, by the way, to take that lead in stage one....They probably were going to finish in the top two, three, maybe win the stage, and they lose that. But really, they put themselves in a position to leave here with a top 10 finish at a minimum, if not a win. And then you get caught up in a wreck with it you had nothing to do with," Bianchi said (8:01).

Bianchi maintains that Bubba Wallace's great race at Michigan was ruined by bad luck. He noted how Wallace and his team were doing everything right but it all fell apart because of an unavoidable crash with Kyle Larson.

"It starts with, you know, arguably the world's best driver, you know, starting it or, you know, getting spun, spinning out, and you've got nowhere to go. He spins in your path, and what do you do? There's nothing. And that is just quintessentially a moment where you go, 'We just have bad luck, and it sucks, and it's unfortunate,'" he added (8:51).

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Bubba Wallace's race setback

Bubba Wallace started fifth during the last Cup Series race and quickly moved up to lead on lap 36 in the first stage. After pit stops during a caution, he dropped back but climbed to fourth and earned stage points.

When the race resumed on Monday, August 19, after a weather delay, Wallace stayed in the Top 5. However, after pitting for tires and fuel on lap 108, he was caught in the middle of the pack and got involved in a multi-car crash behind Kyle Larson on lap 113.

Wallace's car then lost speed which caused him to finish one lap down and end at 26th place. This was his worst finish of the year since his crash at New Hampshire in June.

Wallace remained optimistic despite the setback.

"The guys did a good job...that's all I can ask for. Show speed, be competitive, put your name in the hat. That's what we did so thank you. Two more left. Didn't matter if we ran second today. Still got two more left," he said after the race.

With only two races left before the playoffs, Wallace will need to perform well at Daytona and Darlington to make the playoff spot. Daytona is one of his stronger tracks with five top-5 finishes in 13 starts.