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Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson wreck: In-car video reveals live reaction to wild Darlington moment

JHby: Jonathan Howard04/07/25Jondean25
Bubba Wallace Darlington
Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

With just a handful of laps to go at Darlington on Sunday, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson got into a wreck to trigger overtime. Larson was 170+ laps down. Wallace was a lap down. As Reddick got into the wall, the 2021 NASCAR champion checked up.

From there, Kyle Larson more or less did the same exact thing he did on Lap 4 of this race. He went out of Turn 2 and to the inside wall. The No. 5 car was more than half of the race down in laps, but was still making laps.

In fact, Larson was trying to make passes. With a few laps to go. And…no one to pass for points. He finished P37, beating only JJ Yeley, but both P37 and P38 pay out a single point. So, no gain.

Bubba Wallace was not happy after the wreck. Reddick had just been passed by Ryan Blaney, and Wallace had been having a tough day out on the track. These drivers were trying to get to the finish. Instead, overtime.

“Brother, that was not that big of a fucking checkup!” Wallace yelled over the radio, via Steven Taranto of CBS Sports.

“Dude just panicked,” his spotter Freddie Kraft said on the radio. “The 45 just got in the fence. He could have run the bottom.”

“Ugh! I didn’t fucking want that,” Wallace replied. “God damn it!”

As Larson made the pass on Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick was just ahead. Reddick hit the wall, and that caused Larson to check up. Like, in a big way. The 23 had no room to slow down and was essentially cut off and brake-checked.

Kyle Larson was driving a repaired car. Maybe he didn’t think he could stop in time if he needed to. Perhaps the handling wasn’t how it needed to be. Either way, it was a strange situation that ultimately changed the race.

Denny Hamlin got on and off pit road quickly and took the lead. From there, he controlled the overtime restart and ran to the win.

Kyle Larson comments on Bubba Wallace incident via crew chief

After the race, Kyle Larson didn’t directly speak with reporters. As a P37 finisher, he didn’t have a media obligation on pit road. He apparently made it out of Darlington before a reporter could get to him, too.

His crew chief Cliff Daniels did speak to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. With his comments we have an idea of how Larson felt after that incident.

“Cliff Daniels said Kyle told him he felt bad about being part of the last caution,” Gluck reported on X/Twitter. “They were trying to stay out of the way of the leaders and stay low, and Larson checked up early to make sure he didn’t get into Reddick, but Bubba didn’t know Larson was doing to slow down that much.”

Bubba Wallace ultimately finished P21. He did manage to pick up stage points and salvage the day that way. He remains 8th in points. Meanwhile, Larson dropped from 2nd to 6th in points. William Byron now has a commanding 49-point lead over Denny Hamlin, who moved up to that 2nd spot with his win.