“Unacceptable”: Bubba Wallace throws shade at Noah Gragson over his handshake with Hollywood icon Bill Murray

Bubba Wallace called out Noah Gragson for not knowing Bill Murray when he met the latter during the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Wallace deemed it 'unacceptable' that Gragson couldn't even muster a faint recognition of the Hollywood icon.

Murray was the official Grand Marshall for Sunday's (September 7) race. Known for cult classics like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Groundhog Day', the 74-year-old attended NASCAR's driver meeting when the incident with Gragson happened.

In an X post, Wallace detailed the moment the two met, writing,

"A lot of yall love @NoahGragson, but homeboy had no idea who Bill F&$$k’n Murray was as he shook his hand… unacceptable"

Bubba Wallace

@BubbaWallace

A lot of yall love @NoahGragson, but homeboy had no idea who Bill F&$$k’n Murray was as he shook his hand… unacceptable

Bubba Wallace had a fairly good outing at Gateway. He logged the second most laps led with 73 of the 240-lap affair. However, the 23XI Racing driver had a gear issue during a restart and handed over the lead to Denny Hamlin, who went on to win the race.

Wallace ended up eighth on the running order, while Noah Gragson came in P30.

---

"I hate that": Bubba Wallace on his restart incident at Gateway

On lap 156, Bubba Wallace was leading the field on a restart, but he wasn't able to launch a good getaway. It effectively bunched up the barrage of cars behind him and nearly caused a multi-car wreck. Kyle Larson was the immediate victim of the stack-up, as he was held up while the cars in the inside lane brushed past him.

Larson and Wallace were also seen discussing the incident on pit road after the race. Following the same, Wallace spoke to the media and outlined the day's events.

“We’re plus 50 (points); that’s a good sight to see. We had solid execution all day, varying strategies from the whole field, and my little restart mishap. It just got stuck in between gears, and that hurt me, [Kyle Larson and William Byron] on strategy, so I hate that for all of us involved," he said via Racer.com.

“But we recovered. Looking at the big picture, if you had told me that we would lead laps and be one of the cars to maybe win today after practice, I would have said, ‘[Heck] no.’ All in all, a solid day for the McDonald’s Toyota Camry team. We just came up short,” he added.

Kyle Larson ended up outside the top-10 and came in 12th. Notably, the Hendrick Motorsports driver had finished second in Stage 1, while Bubba Wallace himself won Stage 2. The result marks two consecutive top-10s for the Alabama native.

The No.23 driver now ranks fourth in the playoff standings, just one spot below Larson. His 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick, ranks seventh, 37 points above the cutline.