Crucial mistakes cost Bubba Wallace dearly at Atlanta

Wallace expressed his frustration in a brief one-sided shouting match with Gibbs on pit road post-race. 

The block Wallace made on Gibbs was an aggressive one, made as Wallace's No. 23 slipped down to the bottom of the track. Gibbs, a Toyota teammate of Wallace, clearly tried to get out of the gas before hitting him but had too much momentum to prevent contact. 

The contact was a racing incident without either driver clearly at fault. But regardless of who the finger can be pointed at, Wallace lost valuable points. 

His second big mistake of the night was much more costly, however.

Bubba Wallace's second mistake 

On the final lap, Wallace made a bold three-wide move on the backstretch, shooting to the inside of Blaney and Carson Hocevar to try and take the race lead away. 

The problem? Wallace went below the double-yellow line, which NASCAR rules "out of bounds" at Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. Advancing your position below the line is viewed as an illegal move. 

Wallace said in his post-race interview that he got loose as he made his move. He immediately gathered his car back up and got back above the line, and while he did not pass anyone while below the line, NASCAR penalized him anyway. 

Wallace crossed the finish line in second but was relegated to a 29th-place finish due to the penalty. Despite a visit to the NASCAR hauler to discuss the call, the penalty was upheld. 

All told, those two mistakes cost Wallace over 30 points. With six races left in the regular season, he's 13th in the series standings and only 55 points above the Chase cut line. 

Wallace has had enough speed this season where he should be able to hold on and earn a Chase berth. But if things go south for the No. 23 team over the next six races and he fails to make the postseason, Atlanta could be looked back on as the turning point.