Fists fly in fight with Bubba Wallace, driver suspended and NASCAR wife showers in Nashville

As a fan of drama, close races, fights, moaning, groaning and players’ wives, I have to say – last week was solid for NASCAR. Maybe the best of the year. Seriously.

We had Bubba Wallace arguing with Aric Almirola. Aric Almirola! Didn’t The one on my bingo card, but buddy, I’m ALL IN. Ding, ding, ding!

As if that wasn’t enough to get the engines revving on a Monday morning, I thought the Nashville auto race, which lasted about eight hours yesterday, might be the best of the season. Better than Atlanta. Better than Darlington. It was The Good.

What else? Oh, you thought Kyle Busch was finally going to turn his miserable year around? THINK AGAIN, IDIOT! We did end the night with a Rowdy signature sheet, but that’s not what we had in mind. You’ll see.

Anything else? Oh yeah! Denny Hamlin released the hype video of the year, complete with his fiancée doing NASCAR WAG stuff from their coach. No, not this NASCAR WAG stuff, you animals. But I’ll be honest, we weren’t far off.

Phew. See? Drama, WAGs, fights, good racing… what a week. I’m ready to run through a brick wall on this first Monday in July!

Four tires, whatever Sunoco racing fuel Joey Logano used last night, and maybe some boxing gloves for Bubba Wallace… Monday Morning Pit-Stop – the “Cinco De NASCAR” edition – is LIVE!

This Nashville finish was perfect

Five overtimes. Five! For anyone wondering, what you saw last night was a NASCAR record. I’ve seen plenty of Daytona races with two or three overtimes. But five? Nope.

As DW would say: I have never.

And you want to know how I viewed the destination? From a seat in a restaurant called Violinist off I-77 in Hillsville, Virginia. That’s true. Is there more white trash than that? I don’t think so.

But that’s how good this race was, at least in my opinion (and this entire award-winning column is my opinion, so that’s really all that matters!)

We are on our way back to Florida and stopped in Hillsville late last night. We drove into town empty handed and needed to eat, so Violinist that was it. It wasn’t exactly a Ruth’s Chris, but whatever. It was a bad night for a buffet in Virginia.

Anyway, I turned on the car racing on my phone for the last few laps and the damn ending kept us busy all through dinner. Crash, crash, crash – it was great. I know some people don’t like it when they crash. They call it “fake” or “bad racing.”

Bullshit, as Sleepy Joe would say (even if you don’t understand). This is perfect racing.

And hey! What a hell of a night for Ford, too. Incredible marketing for them when Joey Logano somehow managed to get the Mustang to go 105 laps without gas while everyone else was dropping like flies.

Good for Ford – this company needs some recognition! Goodnight, little ones!

Kyle Busch once again drove a great race!

Thank God I wasn’t back in Florida because I would have lost my house if I had bet on Logano running out of gas. How the hell did he do that? And with two tires, no less.

Did you know that was Joey’s first win since Atlanta… LAST spring? My God. For a guy who’s an instant Hall of Famer and a two-time champion, I didn’t realize how bad his season was. I knew he was in trouble, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.

Maybe it is because Kyle Busch continues to The worst season in the history of seasons Award. To be honest, at this point it’s not even close.

It’s gotten so bad that we keep a running list of how bad Kyle’s last few months have been. I just copy and paste it every week. Watch:

In the last seven races, Kyle Busch finished as follows: 27, 15, 35, 12, 35, 35, 37.

Our man finished outside the top 20 ten times this season. Ten times! He got punched in the face more often than he won!

And last night, for a moment, I thought he could win the damn race. But then, of course, Kyle Larson ran out of gas, Rowdy punched him in the ass, and then Chase Elliott followed suit:

Chin up, little Ty!

Just a brutal year for Kyle Busch. He actually got crashed twice yesterday – BOTH IN OVERTIME – and somehow he got his spot back after this incident that left everyone on NASCAR Twitter confused and in a tizzy:

NASCAR just…reverted Kyle to fourth after he was bumped into the next week. I thought that was great, especially because it gave Rowdy a chance to win/lose in miserable fashion, which for us was #content either way. Was it fair? No idea. No idea why they did it or what the actual decision is/was.

They did something similar with Chase Elliott earlier in the race after he spun himself, so maybe Is the rule. I don’t know. I honestly don’t care. I just thought NASCAR was throwing Kyle a bone, some kind of handout. And I respected that the hell out of it.

From one miserable driver to the next… let’s check in with Tyler Reddick after he nearly passed Joseph Logano on the final lap:

Bubba Wallace talks about fight and NASCAR suspension

Gosh, Tyler. It’s going to be OK, I promise. The sun will rise (hey, it will!), and you’ll win another race. Trust me, you’ll get through it, buddy. Chin up!

Before we end the day with our usual nonsense, we want to quickly address the rumors about a fight between Bubba Wallace and Aric Almirola…

I’m in. 100%. Since last week.

OutKick – Fan Favorite Bubba Wallace, and a driver you vaguely remember but probably haven’t thought about in years – Aric Almirola – are currently making headlines for a recent “physical altercation” that apparently earned Almirola a one-way ticket to lockdown town (what a dumb comment, but whatever).

According to The Athletic, a physical altercation between Almirola and Bubba Wallace is the reason Joe Gibbs Racing removed Almirola as the driver of its No. 20 car for the May 25 Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and subsequently suspended him indefinitely, multiple industry sources familiar with the matter told The Athletic.

The altercation occurred earlier in the week before the race in Charlotte during a weekly competition meeting attended by drivers from both JGR and 23XI Racing – Toyota supports both teams and there is a close technical alliance between them.

The exact reason for the dispute is unknown, but these sources said the team considers Almirola to be the instigator.

Oh, hell yeah, let’s get crazy. Bubba vs. Aric, who do you have? For those who don’t remember exactly – God knows I didn’t – these two aren’t exactly friends. From last season:

Obviously, that was just the beginning — depending on who you believe. JGR hasn’t addressed any of it — they probably won’t — and neither will NASCAR — they definitely won’t because it’s a team issue. So we may never know exactly what went down between these two lovebirds earlier this season.

But of course you can listen to Bubba and draw a conclusion or two yourself:

Dancing Denny, NASCAR players’ wives and Larson get revenge (sort of)

They don’t want me to go into detail and keep some people’s good pictures.

I love it. Nothing better than a little pettiness to start the week. Bubba Wallace always delivers, baby!

Good. Do you think Bubba started this fight or was it the other way around? [email protected].

A few quickies (hey, now!) on the way out. First? This rivalry between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson is just getting stronger and stronger…

It’s still cold right now, but things have definitely heated up over the last few weeks. I think – and hope – that we’re getting closer to the moment when real action happens. I’m not sure if it will ever come to blows, especially because that’s just not Kyle Larson’s game, but I can smell it. Something is I am Brewin. Stay tuned.

Denny is DISTURBED by the way:

Welcome to the show, Jordan Fish! It’s been a damn minute since we’ve had you on a Monday, but you’re back with a bang. Great way to start July. Let’s keep this momentum going, baby!

Speaking of bathrooms (sort of), here’s a guy who almost shit his pants yesterday:

NASCAR WAG McCall Gaulding takes us to Chicago

Whoaaaaaaaaaa, Nellie! Close call. Heads on swivels, boys. All of you.

OK, that’s all for today. Zane Smith somehow finished second yesterday, which gives us a great opportunity to check in with OutKick fan favorite McCall Gaulding.

What an end to the day.

See you in Chicago.