Denny Hamlin asked his 23XI Racing No. 23 driver Bubba Wallace to change his ways after the Coca-Cola 600.
Wallace is in fine form recently, with three consecutive top-five finishes in the last three Cup races. He also finished second in the non-point All-Star Race.
However, his performance on the race track has been a bit overshadowed by his antics outside of racing. He flipped the middle finger during a post-race interview at North Wilkesboro. Bubba then did the same again During the Coca-Cola 600, but this time it was directed towards Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola.
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In response to his behaviour, Wallace said that “when you walk around with two faces, that’s what you get”.
However, his team co-owner Hamlin was not happy with Wallace’s antics. Speaking in his Action’s Detrimental podcast, Hamlin called Wallace “childish” and suggested that he not do so in the future.
“As his car owner, I don’t love it at all,” Hamlin said. “I mean, just keep your hands in your car. Just stop it. You’ve got some positive momentum on the racetrack. Let’s just chill for a little while and, you know, just take the dubs when you get them, and that’s running well.”
“It’s out of style. Everyone needs — whoever still does it, needs to stop because it’s out of style. Stop doing it. It’s childish. It’s just not worth it. Like, you know, many times someone’s gotten the finger and the next thing you know, they just get dumped in the next corner because people take it personally. It’s not something you should probably do for sure.”
Luckily, Almirola didn’t retaliate during the race and just faced Wallace after the race. As Hamlin pointed out, doing so in the middle of the race might not be the best idea as it could have affected his chances in the race.