A year ago, during a rain delay of the Cup race at Charlotte, Wallace and Almirola had a verbal altercation following hard racing on the track and Almirola shoved Wallace.
At the time, Wallace said, “When you walk around with two faces, that’s what you get.” Bubba Wallace acknowledged that there was an incident between him and Aric Almirola in May, but he would not go into details.
Joe Gibbs Racing officials would only say that Almirola missed his scheduled Xfinity Series start in May at Charlotte for a “team decision” and would not confirm reports that Almirola and Wallace were in an altercation at a meeting of Toyota drivers.
Wallace was not disciplined, although it was unclear what exactly happened at the meeting in late May. Almirola will make his next start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
Almirola was supposed to compete in most of the 23 Xfinity races that John Hunter Nemechek isn’t doing this year. Wallace stated he would accept one question on the incident during his mandatory press conference on Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway. Wallace had qualified in Row 12 for the race on Sunday.
“They don’t want me to get into the details, keep some people’s images good,” Wallace stated.I believe I stated all I needed to at Charlotte last year. I have a decent life overall.
I’m concentrating on that since a lot of nice things have happened to me since that s— happened more than a month ago. “That’s all you can really ask for; I’m focused on getting our stuff back together off the racetrack, and I’m focused on my pregnant wife and our growing baby boy.
I am doing well off course. not quite on course, though. That’s our current area of concentration. That’s it, then. You won’t receive any more questions than that.
When questioned if he had been punched by Almirola on May 25, Wallace first denied the event and called the reports “crazy.” Wallace rides for Joe Gibbs Racing, but his vehicle is owned by Denny Hamlin of 23XI Racing.
Hamlin claimed not to have seen the collision happen. “At 23XI, we let Joe Gibbs Racing handle it and they did what they saw fit,” Hamlin stated. “I don’t know all the details because I didn’t want to get too much into the personal business and still don’t.”
Wallace is now outside looking in on the postseason bubble, but according to Hamlin, he is managing his disappointments from the season better than he has in the past. “He’s doing a better job of not outwardly showing that [frustration],” said Hamlin. “I just think that comes with maturity, and he’s maturing.”
