“Such hypocrisy”: NASCAR fans respond to Bubba Wallace’s verdict on Sammy Smith’s intentional wreck

Bubba Wallace shared his views on Sammy Smith’s antics on the final lap of last Saturday's (March 29) Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway, and the fans reacted to them. Smith, who is in his sophomore year with JR Motorsports, allegedly initiated contact with fellow racer Taylor Gray to grab the lead.

As someone who has previously competed in NASCAR’s lower levels, Wallace explained that respect was the key to maintaining a clean chit among one’s fellow racers.

Recalling his earlier days as a Truck Series driver, the Alabama native said:

“There's nothing like getting out of the car and shaking a Cup guy's hand, like, good job, you beat me. That is something that I (used to) strive for when I was racing in the Truck Series.”

Needless to say, Wallace did not approve of Smith’s actions at Martinsville. He added:

“A lot of respect was lost for (Sammy Smith), not only from myself, but from a lot of peers that I’ve talked to.”

Several fans slid into the comments section, calling Bubba Wallace a hypocrite. One of them referred to how Wallace spun out Kyle Larson toward the end of this Sunday’s (April 6) race at Darlington, and wrote:

“Same loss of respect towards bubba when he right hooked Larson which was far worse than what Smith did. What a huge hypocrite.”

“Such hypocrisy!!” said another.

Here are a few more reactions to his comments:

“Does anyone really care about Bubba's opinion on this,” a fan wrote.

“Lmao r u shitting me .. he's got a lot of nerve on this,” said another.

“Yeah, because Bubbles hasn't ever done dumb,” someone commented.

“Coming from bubba, that’s rich,” a user typed.

Bubba Wallace entered Sunday’s race, the Goodyear 400, as the fifth driver on the field alongside Team Penske’s Austin Cindric in Row 3. He finished 21st, earning 25 points on the way. As of today, he sits eighth in the driver standings with 233 points to his credit.

Bubba Wallace breaks the silence on his run-in with Kyle Larson at Darlington

With four laps to go in Sunday’s Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, Bubba Wallace got to the rear of Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy and bumped him out of the way. Notably, that incident brought out the last caution of the race and marked Larson’s second spin of the day.

As reported by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Wallace felt that Larson had slowed down more than he had expected shortly after Tyler Reddick hit the wall down the backstretch. Gluck wrote on X:

“Bubba Wallace told me he didn’t think it was warranted for Larson to check up as much as he did after Reddick hit the wall but apologized for ruining Blaney’s day,” Gluck wrote. “He came up and whispered something in Blaney’s ear on pit road and Blaney declined to say what it was."

That being said, next up for the drivers is the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Scheduled for next Sunday, April 13, the 500-lap race will be televised on Fox Sports 1 with live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.