NASCAR: Bubba Wallace bizarrely congratulated for winning Daytona 500

Bubba Wallace opened up the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace took the checkered flag just 0.036 seconds behind Team Penske’s Austin Cindric in Sunday’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Wallace now has two runner-up finishes in five starts in the “Great American Race”, both times behind a driver named Austin. He finished in second place behind Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon in 2018. Meanwhile, Cindric’s win came in his first start as the driver of the #2 Ford.

However, Wallace’s second place performance didn’t stop one of his primary sponsors from congratulating him — for winning.

Dr. Pepper, one of the five founding partners of 23XI Racing and a semi-regular primary sponsor of Wallace’s #23 Toyota, tweeted after the race, congratulating Wallace on the victory.

The tweet, which has since been deleted, read, “Ahhhhhh yes, the sweet taste of victory. All that hard work paid off, and Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing got the win they deserved!”

A Google search confirmed that the tweet was real, though the tweet history has since been removed from there as well.

Take a look below.

What led to this tweet is up for debate, especially considering the fact that it didn’t come until more than an hour after the checkered flag flew, plus the fact that, while 0.036 seconds is a slim margin, it was pretty obvious that Cindric beat Wallace to the line.

Some fans initially believed that Cindric should have been penalized for forcing Wallace below the double yellow line coming to the checkered flag. Others (including Wallace himself) pointed out the ongoing Team Penske wheel controversy.

Additionally, whenever somebody wins a big race, there are always rumors that there are issues in post-race technical inspection, especially when it seems like longer than usual for confirmation to arrive that the winner passed. That was once again the case with Cindric, especially considering the aforementioned topics of discussion.

Alas, Cindric’s #2 Ford did pass inspection, and he was confirmed as the winner ahead of Wallace in second place. And of course, the bizarre Dr. Pepper tweet no longer exists. But as usual, the internet never forgets.