NASCAR: Possible replacement if Bubba Wallace is suspended

If Bubba Wallace is suspended for Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, who would replace him?

The incident during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway involving 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson has led to multiple calls to suspend the former.

Larson left Wallace with very little room after a three-wide dive to the inside in turn four of the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas, Nevada oval, and while there was no contact between Larson’s #5 Chevrolet and Wallace’s #45 Toyota, Wallace did make slight contact with the wall.

Larson kept moving to the inside to complete the move, but Wallace chased him down and hooked him in the rear, sending both cars for a spin and collecting the #20 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell as well.

All three drivers were knocked out of the race, and considering the fact that Bell is still in contention for the championship and Larson’s #5 team is still in contention for the owner championship, it didn’t go over too well.

While Wallace did later issue an apology, he has still not admitted that he hooked Larson in the right rear intentionally, blaming the incident on a steering issue.

He simply apologized for his confrontation with Larson afterward and the fact that Bell was eliminated because of the incident.

The fact that he didn’t admit it, even going as far as telling NBC Sports reporter Marty Snider to “Stop fishing” when asked about the concept of retaliation, makes sense considering the fact that NASCAR has penalized drivers in the past for admitting.

Wallace himself was on the receiving end of a massive penalty in November 2019 when he admitted he intentionally spun out with a flat tire to cause a caution, a move that also had significant playoff implications.

The calls for Wallace to be suspended for this coming Sunday afternoon’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway come because of how blatant his move on Larson looked; it appeared as though he used his car as a weapon. This is, of course, made worse by the fact that concussions have become a major issue in the Next Gen era.

NASCAR has the resources and data to determine whether or not it truly was intentional or not and will likely act accordingly, as they have stated that they will review the entire incident from start to finish.

Whether or not Bubba Wallace gets suspended remains to be seen, but if he does, who would replace him?

The obvious option would be John Hunter Nemechek, who competes full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series. The Truck Series is already set to be at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the weekend, with the Baptist Health Center Care 200 scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon.

While Ty Gibbs was called upon to replace Kurt Busch following Busch’s head injury at Pocono Raceway, 23XI Racing team co-owner Denny Hamlin had previously stated that Nemechek was their original emergency replacement driver.

So if a seat were to unexpectedly become open this weekend, who better than Nemechek, a former full-time Cup Series driver himself, to take it?

NASCAR is set to make a decision on a potential penalty for Wallace at some point this week. Sunday’s race, the Dixie Vodka 400, is set to be broadcast live from Homestead-Miami Speedway on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. It is the second of three races on the schedule for the round of 8. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!