NASCAR race car driver Bubba Wallace came in second place during his latest race. Right before an on-air interview, Wallace appeared to gesture toward the cameras and to no one in general, which caused immediate reactions with fans booing him.
According to Fox News, after the masses clearly saw the gesture, the crowd started booing the race car driver, and there were calls for him to be penalized. He was about to speak to FOX Sports’ Jamie Little when the incident occurred.
The Sacramento Bee reported that after Wallace raised his left middle left finger and “flipped the bird” on live television, some expected some type of punishment, but NASCAR announced there would be no action taken against Wallace. The league said Wallace informed them that he had directed the gesture toward a friend and that there was no malice behind the move.
According to Motorsport, someone was able to hack into Wallace’s 23XI Racing team radio channel during the race and made a derogatory statement to the racer. Although Wallace allegedly did not hear the message, the person said, “Go back to where you came from you a**hole. You’re not wanted in NASCAR.”
NASCAR officials said they knew about the incident and confirmed their security operation is investigating the interference to see who could gain access to Wallace’s radio channel.
The driver took the second-place finish in stride, saying, “Larson was lights out, so congrats to him. They have been hitting it on the head all season, so to run second to them is not a bad thing. But to run second in the All-Star race sucks because you go home with nothing.”
On camera, he also acknowledged that the boos come often, and in the sport, he had to get used to hearing them, but he continues to race.