Bubba Wallace knows Ryan Blaney about as well as anyone in the NASCAR garage.
That’s why Blaney’s heated confrontation with Carson Hocevar at Bristol caught Wallace completely off guard.
Wallace was asked about the altercation after Saturday night’s Cup Series race and admitted he hadn’t seen everything that led up to it. He had seen the aftermath, however, and watching his close friend get that fired up was enough to leave an impression.
“I was just trying to figure out what was going on,” Wallace said on pit road. “And I was proud of Blaney for having some passion.”
Wallace wasn’t ready to pass judgment on what happened without knowing the full story. Instead, he already had a plan for getting it.
“I don’t know what led to that,” Wallace said. “I had just seen the aftermath of him in the wall, but I’ll have a beer with him and figure it out.”
Bubba Wallace Had Never Seen Ryan Blaney That Mad
Wallace and Blaney’s friendship stretches well beyond what happens on Sunday afternoons, which made Wallace an especially interesting person to ask about Blaney’s reaction.
Had he ever seen his best friend that angry before?
Apparently not.
“No, that surprised the [expletive] out of me,” Wallace said.
It was a revealing answer from someone who has spent years around Blaney both at and away from the racetrack.
Blaney’s typically laid-back personality has long been part of his reputation in the Cup Series garage. Bristol brought out something different.
The confrontation followed an incident involving Blaney and Hocevar during Saturday night’s race, with Blaney ending up in the wall. Tempers then carried over beyond the on-track contact, producing a huge fight that quickly became one of the most talked-about moments of the night.
Wallace, by his own admission, didn’t see enough of what happened to know exactly what triggered Blaney’s response. That kept him from weighing in on who was right or wrong.
What he could speak to was Blaney.
And seeing that much emotion from his longtime friend was apparently a first.
Wallace Was ‘Proud’ to See Blaney Show Some Fire
There was another part of Wallace’s reaction that stood out.
He wasn’t simply surprised by Blaney’s anger. He seemed to appreciate seeing it.
“I was proud of Blaney for having some passion,” Wallace said.
That’s a different reaction than blindly defending a friend after an incident. Wallace made clear he still needed to learn what happened before forming an opinion about the confrontation itself.
The two can sort through that part later.
Over a beer, naturally.
For now, Wallace walked away from Bristol having seen a version of his best friend that even he wasn’t expecting.
And judging by his reaction, Blaney has some explaining to do when that beer arrives.
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