Did his (Bubba Wallace) reaction and retaliation surprise you?
“No, it didn’t surprise me. I obviously made an aggressive move into (turn) three; got in low, got loose and chased it up a bit. He (Bubba Wallace) got to my right front, and it got him tight and into the wall. I knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated.
It is what it is. Just aggression turned into frustration and he retaliated.”
Is retaliation at that speed an acceptable thing?
“I think with everything that’s been going on here lately, with head injuries, fractured ligaments and all that, I don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do.
We’ve all done it – maybe not all of us – but I have. I’ve let the emotions get the best of me before, too. I know he’s probably still upset. I’m sure with everything going, he’ll know that he made a mistake in the retaliation part and I’m sure he’ll think twice about that next time.”
What about the off-track retaliation when he came up and tried to shove you.. did that catch you off guard?
“No, I saw him walking over, so I figured he would do something. Like I said, he had every right to be upset. I would rather him do that than tear up our cars in a dangerous manner. It is what it is.”
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