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23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace did not have the smoothest start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. The #23 Toyota Camry XSE driver was seen spinning during this weekend's 2024 Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
The event originally scheduled to go live on Sunday was preponed to Saturday by the governing body as extreme weather threatened the event's washout on Sunday.
Bubba Wallace's outing during the 'bullring-style' event at the short track was plagued with unintentional spins, the first one of which came due to aggressive contact from teammate Tyler Reddick. Wallace was seen running inside the top 10 when Reddick seemingly got into the rear right of Wallace's car in a bid to avoid contact from Alex Bowman, who was further to the inside of Reddick.
While Bowman and Reddick managed to continue with their races, Wallace faced the wrong way and dropped down the order. The nature of the short and narrow track at the LA Memorial Coliseum saw a resulting stack up behind the #23 Toyota Camry XSE, with Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, and Michael McDowell managing to stop just short of running into Bubba Wallace.
The Mobile, Alabam native also spun after bumping and banging with fellow driver Kyle Larson, before finishing in P12, just outside the top 10 at the end of the race.
Bubba Wallace surprised after finishing P12 during 2024 Busch Light Clash
Despite spinning a second time after receiving help from Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson on lap 77, Bubba Wallace managed to finish in the top 15 as the 2024 Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum came to an end.
The #23 Camry XSE driver expressed his surprise at his ending position, even after unwillingly entering the tunnel at the track after his spin. The driver posted on social media, writing:
"But how I finish 12th and I ain’t even finish the race. got spun and just went up the tunnel."
Despite his ultimate finishing position, it will be certain the 23XI Racing driver will be looking forward to the upcoming Daytona 500 later this month. Having proven his ability on superspeedway-style tracks, it remains to be seen how well Wallace goes around the 2.5-mile-long tri-oval of February 18, 2024.
