What happened during Bubba Wallace's fateful pitstop during 2024 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?

23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace got a brutal setback as an expensive pitstop slashed his odds of a favorable outing.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 race was hosted by the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, on March 3. Kyle Larson took his maiden win of the season and his third overall at the 1.5-mile oval, bringing home the second victory for Hendrick Motorsports this year.

With two consecutive top-5 finishes in the bag, Bubba Wallace forayed strongly into the 2024 season. The first P5 finish was at the Daytona 500, and the second one at the Ambetter Health 400. Moreover, the #23 driver secured the P5 spot during the Saturday qualifying run. Nevertheless, his 267-lap run ended on a dismal note.

When Wallace brought his Toyota in for a pitstop, the crew made unwavering efforts to remove the lug nut of the left-side front wheel but to no avail. After numerous attempts, the Alabama native was left with no choice but to run with a set of three fresh wheels and the prevailing left tire.

Although the lug nut was sawed away on the next stop before Bubba Wallace could resume his run, he had plummeted by 10 laps and was also served a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the wall.

PRN posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing the crew member sawing off the stubborn lug nut:

Bubba Wallace took motivation from Rajah Caruth's maiden NASCAR victory

On March 2, the Spire Motorsports driver Rajah Caruth sealed the P1 spot at the NASCAR Truck Series Victoria's Voice Foundation 200. After snatching the lead on lap 114 and dominating a total of 38 laps out of 134, the 21-year-old sealed his first-ever NASCAR victory.

Furthermore, Caruth joined the likes of Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace as he became the third African-American driver to clinch a NASCAR win.

Wallace is a friend and a mentor of the #71 Chevrolet Truck driver. Although he couldn't mark his presence at Rajah's triumph, he disclosed about taking motivation from the former's win for his LVMS race.

Fox reporter Jamie Little shared Wallace taking inspiration from Caruth's win on X (formerly Twitter):

“I’m going to use the motivation from last night, ole Rajah getting the job done, that was awesome. Got me excited to get in the car and try to one-up him, I don’t know how I’m going to do that. So proud of him."