Hauler Talk: NASCAR on reasoning behind penalizing Wallace for line violation
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Bubba Wallace tried to avoid gaining positions after going below the out-of-bounds line on the final lap of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway.
But there was ultimately nothing that the 23XI Racing driver could have done to avoid being penalized.
RELATED: EchoPark results | Wallace penalized on last lap
"Unfortunately for Bubba, attempting to give the position back does not matter in this rule," NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde said in a detailed behind-the-scenes discussion of the penalty during the latest episode of the "Hauler Talk" podcast. "If you go below the line and race below the line to improve your position, that's where it happens.
"We determined that he did advance his position in a couple of areas. At a certain point, if you look at the replays, he's in first, and it's the last lap. So if there is a caution, there was a point pretty close to that start/finish line where he would have been declared the winner. Now he would have been black-flagged and still gone back to 29th, but certainly in our eyes, he advanced his position at that point. … At some point, he went below the line, and at some point, he did advance his position, and that was all that mattered, whether he intended it or not."
Barring the penalty, Wallace would have finished second, though he had tried to stay in third. After going below the line beside race winner Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar, Wallace said he attempted to remain in third before a drafting push by Ty Gibbs put him in second.
"It's unfortunate," Wallace said. "If you look at SMT, I was all over the brakes trying to just give the spot back. It says don't go below the yellow line and gain a position, which I didn't. I was still third. I got a shove from (Ty Gibbs) to go to second, so technically, no positions were gained in doing that."
Wallace's team protested during the 20-minute post-race window that allows for contesting in-race penalties.
"(NASCAR vice president of competition) Elton Sawyer said they couldn't have been more respectful," Forde said about the team's reaction to the penalty. "In the protest, they handled it very, very well. Everyone was level-headed, probably moreso than our folks expected, because it's a blow. It's a 27-point swing, and where he is on The Chase standings right now, it's a little bit hairy for him. So they could have probably been guns blazing and really angry, but they handled it in a very professional manner."
Forde also addressed questions about whether a penalty could be impacted by the pass being fully completed or a position being gained when a car was back above the line.
"The videos, it seemed like maybe he didn't complete a pass or he didn't get his nose ahead of it," Forde said. "That does not come into play. If he did go below the line and eventually improved his position, he wouldn't have gotten to where he did without going below the lines. That's really what matters here in this case. He doesn't have to actually make the pass while under the line. … Fully completing a pass where your rear bumper is now in front of the front bumper of the other car, that doesn't matter at all. You just need to be a quarter of an inch ahead of the next car, and that's improving your position, and it was pretty clear to us."
The double-painted line rule is in effect at three tracks: EchoPark, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. It's been in place since 2001 and designed to keep drivers from using the apron as a passing lane, which had triggered massive wrecks in the past.
"I know some people don't love the rule, but I think it probably would be a lot worse without it," Forde said. "And that's why we've kept it on the books for 25 years."