Getty Kyle Larson runs laps at LA Memorial Coliseum
NASCAR officially kicked off the 2024 Cup Series campaign a day early, running the exhibition Clash at the Coliseum on February 3 to beat the forecasted historic flooding expected in the LA area. While Denny Hamlin won and claimed the gold medal, after the race, fans and media focused on several driver conflicts that developed during the 150-lap feature event, including one on the final lap when Kyle Larson spun Bubba Wallace.
The 2021 champion visited with Lee Spencer on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio during his post-race interview and offered a candid response when asked how he and the 23XI Racing driver seem to regularly find each other as they did on the quarter-mile track.
@KyleLarsonRacin doesn’t hesitate in admitting he retaliated against @BubbaWallace on the final lap of the season-opening exhibition Clash at the Coliseum.
“It was just another one,” Larson said. “Listen, I got hit three different times by him and it was the last lap and I was going to get my hit in finally. I wasn’t trying to spin him or anything, but just shove him through the corner like he was shoving me through the corner.
“If roles were reversed, I would have expected the same thing that he got. I hope he understands that. Yeah, we’ve had our run-ins before and I haven’t talked to him and who knows if there’s even anything to talk about.”
Bubba Wallace Gets Aggressive With Kyle Larson
Bubba Wallace has been on the wrong end of aggressive driving at the Clash in the past. Last year, Austin Dillon spun him late and the 30-year-old driver showed his displeasure by driving down and squeezing the No. 3 car into the inside wall on its next trip around the short track.
The 2024 edition continued that same unfortunate trend for Wallace, who found his car pointed in the wrong direction on Lap 78, just after the restart to the second half of the race, when Alex Bowman started a chain reaction going into Turn 3 and drove into the rear of the No. 45 car, which sent Tyler Reddick into the rear of his 23XI Racing teammate.
After the spin, the No. 23 pilot informed his spotter Freddie Kraft to warn those sitting with him in the stands that he was taking a “f*** it” approach the rest of the race and wouldn’t take it anymore.
Fast forward to the green-white-checkered overtime restart and Wallace stayed true to his word. Kyle Larson started from the fourth position in Row 2 in the outside lane. The No. 23 car began in Row 4 on the inside.
On the first trip around the short track, Wallace promptly moved forward and found himself right behind Larson going into Turn 3, where he drove into the rear of the HMS car several times, sending it out wide, but was still unable to pass.
Fox’s Mike Joy noted the continued action between the pair on the final lap and how they “slammed together” in Turn 1, but the cameras failed to show it on the broadcast.
Fox Coverage Missed Kyle Larson Spinning Bubba Wallace and Other Incident
Fox’s NASCAR coverage has justifiably come under criticism from fans in recent years for the cameras consistently failing to keep up with the on-track action described in the booth. That problem reared its ugly head throughout the broadcast, including multiple times on the final lap.
In addition to the camera crew missing the contact between Wallace and Larson as Joy described the action, it also missed the final spin of the No. 23 coming out of Turn 4. The only mention of the incident was the veteran broadcaster describing a “spinner” and an unknown car spinning off-camera in the background.
Interestingly, seconds later, Joy talked about another incident.
“And in the wall in Turn 2 is where Ross Chastain sends Tyler Reddick after the flag,” he said.
“Wow!” Kevin Harvick said, surprised.
“That was intense,” Clint Bowyer added.
Incredibly, 12 seconds after Joy’s initial remarks about the contact between Chastain and Reddick, the cameras briefly showed the Nos. 1 and 45 cars for a total of two seconds as they made their cool-down laps.
Most fans agreed it was an entertaining race with an action-filled finish. Unfortunately, those watching at home missed that action and were painfully reminded that Fox didn’t make any changes in the offseason to its production team and that there will be more frustrating coverage from the network in 2024.