Kyle Larson reached his ‘limit’ with Bubba Wallace during Busch Light Clash

Despite a lot of green flag racing last night, the Busch Light Clash had plenty of contact. Kyle Larson spun Bubba Wallace before the finish line. Larson and Wallace were battling throughout the second half of the NASCAR exhibition, with the latter getting the upper hand.

We have seen this LA Coliseum race for three years now. So, racers knew what was coming if they got overly aggressive on the track. Just before the end of the race, Wallace got spun out of a top-10 almost top-5 position as the field passed him by and Denny Hamlin won the race.

Looking back on the video from the end of the race, it was clear Kyle Larson had gotten into the back of Bubba Wallace. These two have a history of bad blood, think back to Las Vegas 2022.

“I haven’t seen any replays from the last restart, but he got me again and then got me again in the next corner,” Larson explained after the race. Then he gave his side of things. “I think at that point that was three times to my none, so I wanted to get him back before the checkered. I wasn’t trying to spin him out or anything; I was just trying to shove him through the corner like he was doing to me, and he ended up going around.

“Product of this racing and finally reaching my limit, I guess, but yeah, just how it goes.”

Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson are probably never going to bury the hatchet. It seems that they are fine with being rivals on the track. When that results in wrecks, so be it. If that results in something more than on-track activity, then it becomes an issue.

For right now, in the year 2024, Larson has the advantage.

Kyle Larson not the only upset driver at The Clash

As this race has done every year at the LA Coliseum, we had upset drivers. Kyle Larson had grown tired of the way Wallace was racing him. There was a moment between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell.

There was also a moment between John Hunter Nemechek and Corey LaJoie. Nemechek left that confrontation on the rack vowing to “remember” what LaJoie had done to him.

Perhaps the most heated rivalry we saw rekindled on Saturday night, Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano. It is funny, Logano being the veteran champion now trying to school the young hot upstart Cup driver in Gibbs. It’s like Joey has taken the role of Tony Stewart and now Ty is in place of Logano.

I think that the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum has a knack for creating controversy like this. It is healthy and it is good for the sport overall. Rivalries drive sports no matter what it is. The tight racing and constant contact lends itself to pi--ing people off.

This year, Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace start the season off on the wrong foot. Same thing for Gibbs and Logano. Very interesting dynamics to keep up with this season.