Why was Bubba Wallace Jr. suspended from NASCAR?

The driver of the #23 McDonald's Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace Jr. has come off of one of his best-performing years in the previous season of the sport. The 2022 season saw the Mobile, Alabama native clinch his second career victory in the highest echelon of the sport after driving the #45 Toyota Camry TRD into Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway.

Finally removing the asterisk that came with his previous win in a rain-shortened race at Talladega Superspeedway, Bubba Wallace Jr. also managed to improve on his overall performance throughout the year, with more appearances in the top-5 and top-10 than ever before. The 29-year-old managed to bag five top-5 and 10 top-10 appearances in 2022, along with one Busch Light Pole Award.

Coupling his increased results on the track, along with his massive fan following for what he does off it, the 23XI Racing driver is currently considered to be one of the most influential drivers in the sport. Being the sole African-American amongst other drivers along with Netflix Docuseries Race: Bubba Wallace always manages to keep Wallace Jr. in the limelight.

Along with his performance last year, another reason behind Bubba Wallace Jr. dividing opinions in the sport came at the Cup Series race in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw the 23XI Racing driver get up close and personal with Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson after a disagreement between the two on the track. What ensued further in Sin City also spelled suspension for the 23XI Racing driver.

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So why was Bubba Wallace Jr. suspended?

South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw Hendrick Motorsport's Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace Jr. come together spectacularly on the track, an incident which spilled further after the two got out of their cars.

During the 400-mile-long race, Larson was at one point seen squeezing Wallace Jr. towards the outside wall of the track in an attempt to pass the latter. This resulted in the #23 Toyota Camry TRD driver making contact with the wall. Aggravated by Larson's technique, Wallace Jr. went on to hook the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver which sent both cars into a spin.

When both drivers stepped out of their crashed cars, Bubba Wallace jr. was seen walking over to Kyle Larson and attempting to push the latter for his racing etiquette, or the lack of it, as felt by Wallace Jr. The governing body did not take kindly to the retaliation by Wallace Jr. and handed him a one-race suspension.