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Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson exchange words on pit road after restart incident at Gateway

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones09/08/25brianjones_93
Bubba Wallace Kyle Larson
Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images//Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson were seen speaking to each other after the Gateway race on Sunday. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic shared a photo of what appears to be Wallace explaining the restart incident to Larson. During a restart while Wallace was leading, his No. 23 car got stuck in first gear, and it almost caused a big wreck involving Larson.

“I did it the restart before, and it was fine,” Bubba Wallace said, per Kelly Crandall of RACER.com and ESPN. “I need to go back and study how to do it better, but hate it. I don’t know if it gave the five (Kyle Larson) damage, but they were solid cars.”

When the race came to an end, Wallace finished eighth, and Kyle Larson finished 12th. Both drivers are in good positions to advance to the Round of 12 of the playoffs, as Larson is in third place with 60 points above the cut line, and Wallace is right behind him with 50 points.

Larson also talked about the incident with Wallace. “It was a great race for us. We had a great, great car,” Larson said after the Gateway race. “Just a restart when the 23 (Wallace) wasn’t able to get going, I think it messed our strategy up and whatnot after that. That was unfortunate.

More on Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson

“Yeah, proud of my team. Just a phenomenal race car. A place we struggle at. A style of track we struggle at. Looking forward to going to New Hampshire with this package, trying to build off of it. Just keep trying to do a good job in the playoffs and hopefully get to Phoenix and have a chance to race for a championship.”

Wallace is back in the playoffs after missing them last year. He clinched a spot after winning the Brickyard 400 in July. After winning the race at Indianapolis, Wallace has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six races.

Larson is looking to win his second NASCAR Cup Series Championship after winning in 2021. He clinched a playoff spot this year when he won the Homestead race in March. Larson also won at Kansas and Bristol, which is where NASCAR is returning to on Saturday for the final playoff race in the Round of 16.