Bubba Wallace: Wreck with Erik Jones 'doesn't make us look good at all'

On a relatively quiet day at Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500, with no cautions through the opening two stages, things got hairy in a hurry as a pack of Toyotas that included Bubba Wallace looked to link up and move up on the rest of the field in a hurry in the closing stage of the race.

It ended in disaster, as a wobble in the pack over Turn 3 caused a big wreck.

A tunnel under the track caused everyone’s wheels to lift ever so slightly, introducing some squirreliness to the single-file line. Eventually, Bubba Wallace‘s front bumper got into the back right of Erik Jones, sending him careening into the wall.

The crash would take down Wallace, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek and Denny Hamlin.

A caution on Lap 157 for this incident in Turn 3. pic.twitter.com/t1I5uEen0L

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 21, 2024

Wallace explained what happened after the wreck on the FOX broadcast.

“No, just we were all pushing really hard to keep our line going,” Wallace said. “We had a plan and just didn’t execute it as well as we should. Hate it for our Leidos team.”

Wallace was checked and cleared in the infield care center. So too was Jones, who initially complained about his back following the jarring accident.

While a major disappointment for the Toyota team, Wallace didn’t seem overly distraught by the devastating crash, simply upset that he couldn’t provide a better finish for his team.

“Look forward to running in these places and then you just get trapped in somebody else’s mess. I hate it,” Bubba Wallace said. “It doesn’t make us look good at all. But all in all we’ll just reset and go to Dover. We’ve got a long way to go. We’re fine, just frustrating.”

The drama for the day wasn’t done, either.

A major wreck in the final lap wiped out a majority of the field, while Tyler Reddick snuck on through for the win after the chaos at the front of the pack.