Bubba Wallace delivered his best performance of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with a third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading 56 laps during Sunday’s race. Despite narrowly missing out on the win after brushing the wall late, the 23XI Racing driver kept the mood light with his trademark humor over the team radio during his cool-down lap.
“I think I’ve got a tire down,” Wallace joked, prompting a playful response from his spotter, Freddie Kraft, who called him an “[expletive].” Wallace laughed off his late-race mistake, adding, “I had to make some [expletive] light of my [expletive]. Great weekend. Good job boys. Thank you. Let’s keep doing this. [Expletive] yeah! Thank you.”
His humorous tire comment echoed a similar remark during last year’s playoff cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway, where controversy surrounded team tactics and race manipulation. During that race, Wallace’s former crew chief, Bootie Barker, told Kraft to update Wallace on Christopher Bell’s position. With five laps to go, Wallace suddenly moved out of the racing groove, telling his team, “I think I’ve got a tire going down.”
At the time, Bell needed one more position to break a tiebreaker and advance to the Championship 4. Wallace’s maneuver appeared to assist Bell, who made the pass and initially secured a spot in the final round. However, NASCAR later penalized Bell for a safety violation, claiming he intentionally rode the wall—reminiscent of Ross Chastain’s famous 2022 move—disqualifying him and allowing William Byron to advance instead.
Although NASCAR did not directly address allegations of race manipulation, they issued significant penalties. Wallace, Chastain, and Austin Dillon were each fined $100,000 and lost 50 driver points. Their team owners faced identical fines and point deductions.
Next Sunday, the Cup Series returns to Martinsville, where last year’s drama unfolded. Fans can catch the action live on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET.
