Wallace outburst draws extra scrutiny from 23XI

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Bubba Wallace is missing Sunday's NASCAR race, and that is evidently not his lone authorisation aft losing his chill successful Las Vegas past weekend.

Denny Hamlin -- who, on with Michael Jordan, co-owns the 23XI Racing squad Wallace drives for -- said Saturday that the squad has dealt with matters successful a mode that goes "above and beyond" the penalties handed down by NASCAR.

Hamlin didn't accidental what that means, choosing to support those matters in-house.

"He understands wherever I stand, wherever the squad stands, the values that we privation to contiguous connected the racetrack, and helium conscionable didn't correspond it that good past week," Hamlin said. "But you know, successful the expansive strategy of things, we're precise blessed with his progress. And helium knows he's inactive got immoderate worldly to enactment connected erstwhile helium gets retired of the contention car."

Last week, Wallace intentionally wrecked reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson astatine Las Vegas successful a unsafe enactment of retaliation. Playoff contender Christopher Bell got caught up successful that wreck, smashing his car and denting his chances of becoming NASCAR champion. Bell remains successful the playoffs but needs to rally.

Wallace was suspended for this week astatine Homestead-Miami, but helium is not the lone operator successful the spotlight close present for causing trouble.

Two weeks ago, NASCAR issued $200,000 successful fines aft uncovering that Stewart-Haas Racing operator Cole Custer slowed connected the backstretch of the last thigh successful Charlotte and helped teammate Chase Briscoe determination up capable to scope the adjacent circular of the playoffs. Custer and his unit chief, Mike Shiplett, were some fined $100,000 aft NASCAR determined Custer's slowdown was deliberate.

"NASCAR's similar your parents a batch of times," playoff person and rubric contender Joey Logano said. "There's a enactment of, you know, you've got to fto the boys fig it retired sometimes, and they'll fig it retired unneurotic and determination connected oregon Mom and Dad has to measurement successful a small spot and power the concern due to the fact that it's gotten retired of hand. So I judge NASCAR benignant of decided it's getting retired of hand."

Drivers tended to hold with NASCAR connected these calls.

"In my opinion, those moves were extremely, highly dumb -- some of them," Daniel Suarez said. "And with some of them, I was going to beryllium highly amazed if they were not penalties. ... You person to beryllium smarter. I don't cognize what those guys were thinking."

That question -- "What was helium thinking?" -- has been a storyline for overmuch of this NASCAR season, with nary shortage of temper-flaring incidents.

Ross Chastain, who has had a large archetypal play for Trackhouse Racing, has featured prominently successful a fewer of those. He has clashed with Hamlin, had a starring relation successful a wreck that enactment a bully dent successful Kevin Harvick's rubric chances and had his sanction converted to a verb by Kyle Busch. Getting wrecked by Chastain is now, successful NASCAR parlance, getting "Chastained."

"Look, immoderate of the things I did passim the summertime were conscionable not ... looking back, I would bash them different," Chastain said. "Some of it would conscionable beryllium my stance aft the race. I would similar it beryllium different. But a batch of on-track stuff, I could decidedly cleanable up."

Wallace isn't astatine Homestead this weekend, adjacent to watch. He volition beryllium successful the squad garage, and Logano said helium doesn't deliberation Wallace owes his chap drivers an explanation.

"It's benignant of each successful beforehand of us. We each see," Logano said. "I'm not looking for anything. He didn't bash it to me. If helium did it to me, yeah, we'd person large problems."