Bubba Wallace reacts to Noah Gragson injury, dealing with brake rotor failure at Gateway

Last week at Gateway, Bubba Wallace was one of four drivers that had a brake rotor blow out on them, and he kept it in the wall. There’s a very good reason why Bubba and Tyler Reddick and even Carson Hocevar put their cars into the wall, safety. When NASCAR rookie Noah Gragson had his brake rotor fail, he didn’t do anything wrong exactly. He was just trying to save his car, like any driver normally would.

There is something to be learned about how those other drivers handled the brake failure. It isn’t something that is easy to do, but in this situation, you have to turn right. Putting yourself into the wall is your best shot at keeping yourself and others on the track safe.

Bubba Wallace addressed the issue and Gragson’s unfortunate concussion as a result of his wreck.

“It’s ironic,” Wallace said to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “It’s a text from Jimmie, after my Pocono crash, when he said, ‘Making yourself turn right is the hardest thing to do, isn’t it?’ And it’s like, yeah. But once I felt our brakes go out at the start/finish line, I knew to turn right and ride the wall. The only bad thing is where the wall kinda kicks out on entry into [Turn 1] so it kicks you out, so your harder impact comes from the second one.

“I hate it for Noah. Hate the situation that we’re in with the concussions and how it all plans out. It’s super hard to tell yourself to turn into the fence when you think that you can save it. But when you’re going those speeds, you have no brakes, the only chance you have is to turn right.”

When Bubba Wallace had brake rotor failure at WWTR Gateway, he turned right into the wall to try to lessen the impact of the crash. Wallace explains when he learned that was the best move and reacts to Noah Gragson being out with concussion-like symptoms. pic.twitter.com/I6L7TCkBjt

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 8, 2023

An unfortunate injury for Gragson, for sure.

Bubba Wallace hoping to get back on track

After four straight top-5 finishes, three of those being points-paying races, Bubba Wallace had an unfortunate end to his race last week. Wallace was vying for the top-10 when his brakes gave out. His car had fought its way from dirty air in the middle of the pack and he was planning on making it five straight top-10 finishes.

While that didn’t happen, Wallace has a chance to get back on track. Sonoma Raceway, wine country. Let’s just call it like it is, Bubba isn’t he best on the road courses. At least, he wasn’t for the longest time. Last season he showed a little bit of improvement.

I do not expect the No. 23 team to compete for a win, unless they run a flawless race. However, at the Indy Road Course last season he was P5. When they went to the Roval in Charlotte, he followed it up with a P7 finish. That’s where Wallace hopes to put himself this weekend coming up.

Bubba Wallace has a chance to show he has improved on the roads. However, it is going to be a lot easier said than done. His teammate Tyler Reddick is one of the favorites to take the checkered flag.