NASCAR Suspends No One, Except Bubba Wallace

Let me get this out of the way up top.

In a vacuum, I believe Bubba Wallace should have been suspended for his on-track actions against Kyle Larson Sunday (Oct. 16) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Full-stop.

If no other NASCAR races were held from Jan. 1  to Oct. 15, 2022, then I’d be all on board with Wallace’s one-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Larson after they made contact and Wallace was forced into the wall at they exited off turn 4.

But guess what?

We don’t live in a vacuum. History is a collections of events in an on-going narrative.

Let me give you some reminders about what we’ve seen from the NASCAR Powers That Be in 2022.

We live in a world where on July 29, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar clearly intentionally hooked Colby Howard into the outside wall in retaliation at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Howard’s truck was wrecked and his night was done.

Afterward, Hocevar played dumb in an interview with Frontstretch, saying he had no idea what happened.

When the following week’s penalty report came out, NASCAR did nothing in regards to Hocevar’s actions. No fine, no points penalty and definitely no suspension.

However, a few months later they penalized him a lap for intentionally bringing out a caution at Talladega.

Now let’s back up a few weeks to July 2 at Road America. You’re forgiven if you weren’t aware of the Hocevar incident.

But there’s no way you missed, after a bit of rough racing between them, Noah Gragson intentionally hooking Sage Karam on a straightaway. What followed was a melee that collected 13 cars and as reported by NBC Sports a weekend later, amounted to at least $250,000 in damage.

Afterward, Gragson even owned up to the it: “He starts it, I’m the one who finished.”

After a few days of social media outrage – though you kind of hope NASCAR doesn’t make decisions based on an echo chamber that doesn’t reflect reality – Gragson was penalized.

“I think is as you look at this, our actions are really specific to what took place on the racetrack,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer. “When we look at how that incident occurred, in our minds, really a dangerous act, we thought that was intentional, and put other competitors at risk and as we look at the sport and where we are today, and where we want to…