Bubba Wallace Flips Off His Team Owner Denny Hamlin After NASCAR Cup Series Race At Kansas

Going to be an awkward team meeting tomorrow.

The NASCAR Cup Series was in Kansas today for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Denny Hamlin dominated most of the race in the #11 car, but suffered power steering issues late in the race that made it a struggle to stay up front. Meanwhile, the #23 car of Bubba Wallace for 23XI Racing struggled during the first half of the race, running in the back of the pack and expressing his frustration over the team radio before the team seemed to find something in stage 2 to make the car quite a bit better, allowing Bubba to run up front for the second half of the race and compete for a win.

In fact, Bubba was leading the race coming to the white flag and appeared to be on his way to a win and locking himself in the round of 8 in the playoffs when a caution flag flew for a bizarre wreck that saw Zane Smith riding on his side around the wall before eventually flipping over and coming to rest on the inside of the track.

Luckily Smith was ok and walked away from the wreck. And on the ensuing restart, Bubba once again started from the top spot, with teammate Tyler Reddick behind him and Christopher Bell to his outside.

Hamlin, meanwhile, restarted in sixth position. But while the cars in front of him battled it out, Hamlin managed to sneak through to challenge Bubba for the lead on the final lap.

As the cars went into turn 3, Hamlin got tight and slid up the track, putting Bubba’s #23 car into the wall and allowing Chase Elliott to hold it wide open and pass them both coming to the checkered flag for Elliott’s second win of the season.

But after the race, Bubba was clearly not happy about the move from Hamlin. And to make things more awkward, Hamlin also happens to be Bubba Wallace’s boss and the owner of his 23XI Racing team alongside NBA legend Michael Jordan.

As the cars made their way back to pit road after the race, Bubba held his middle finger out the window to show his frustration with his team owner:

And he also had some harsh words for Denny on the radio:

“He’s a f—ing douche.”

Yikes.

After the race, Bubba seemed to have calm down a little, though he still expressed his frustration with Hamlin in his postrace interview:

“He’s a dumb–s for that move for sure. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not.”

Now, as many pointed out, Bubba had pulled pretty much the exact same move on the #20 of Christopher Bell just seconds before, so I don’t necessarily think that Denny’s move was out of bounds. And it’s no surprise that Bubba’s upset. Right now he’s below the cut line for the next round of the playoffs with one more race to go in the round of 12. With NASCAR heading to the Charlotte Roval next week, a win today was Bubba’s best shot at advancing in the playoffs. Now, next week is basically a must-win race for the #23 team at a track that’s not exactly Bubba’s speciality.

Gotta think it’s going to be an awkward week around 23XI Racing.The post Bubba Wallace Flips Off His Team Owner Denny Hamlin After NASCAR Cup Series Race At Kansas first appeared on Whiskey Riff.