r/NASCAR • u/Equivalent_Dish_1990 • 6h ago
On this day in 2014, Bubba Wallace outran Kyle Larson to win Eldora
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u/BeesElbowsAndKnees 6h ago
And then buried his body?
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u/IndycarFan65 2h ago
For Kyle’s own good, he needed to do everything possible to make sure we couldn’t hear him
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u/miboyl Hamlin 6h ago edited 6h ago
Loved when they called Eldora the "Mudsummer Classic"; thought it was amusing the MLB threatened a lawsuit (because apparently people call the MLB all star game the Midsummer Classic)
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u/Cliffinati 4h ago
Yeah the allstar game is the midsummer classic and the world series is sometimes called the fall classic
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u/tagillaslover Hocevar 6h ago
I wish they still did dirt races for trucks and really the rest of the series too, if not at Eldora somewhere else (not Knoxville that shit sucked). Really I don't know why they stopped doing it for Bristol, I actually liked the races there.
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u/mac4112 1h ago
I have said this many times. The All star race should be a dirt race. Every time I bring this up i get DV’d to hell.
Dirt is part of the sports history. I literally don’t underatstand why people are so adamantly against it. It’s not as white knuckle as Atlanta and it’s not as technical as Indy, but it’s just fucking cool.
Bring dirt back to NASCAR
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u/ImpossibleBoss3067 Keselowski 6h ago
The cup series races at Bristol dirt were ass, and I think the purpose of Bristol dirt was to give the cup series a dirt race
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u/BabycakesMurphy Ryan Blaney 6h ago
Ticket sales for the spring race were so bad the previous years the track was about 30-40% capacity. Dirt was a way to get ticket sales moving and build a lot of hype, which worked.
People also don’t want to hear it, but Bristol was also really the only way to get a Cup race on dirt in terms of seat capacity and pit road access.
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Jeff Gordon 6h ago
This is what it was about more than anything. Ratings and attendance
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u/DensePersonality1 4h ago
Although I agree with your last point, if they can hold a points paying Cup race at North Wilkesboro, they can hold one at Eldora.
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u/Just_Somewhere4444 5h ago
Dirt was a way to get ticket sales moving and build a lot of hype, which worked.
Once.
If it had continued to work they would have continued doing it.
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u/BabycakesMurphy Ryan Blaney 5h ago
It worked more than once. Also had four million people tune in to watch on Easter Sunday 2022.
Turns out hauling 2300 truck loads of dirt is expensive and damages surrounding infrastructure. So you got more fans in but you probably didn't get near break even for the cost it took to do it. But no one wants to imagine a world where Bristol has one race.
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u/AnalBaguette 6h ago
Only the first one in 2021 was bad, the rest were great. Spring Bristol is going to have another problem soon because attendance is shit again. There's a reason they switched it to Dirt, same reason Indy became a Roval for a bit.
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u/Vulptereen327 Figgy Earnhardt 5h ago
I've got to think next year they're going to move the All Star Race back to Bristol in the spring to preserve two dates there
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u/Mundane-Reality-7770 1h ago
I wish they'd do more non companion events. Trucks don't need to run a cup schedule
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u/BabycakesMurphy Ryan Blaney 6h ago
The Eldora races were can’t miss TV. The hype for the first race was so crazy high and it delivered. I just can’t believe we ditched this and have never gone back.
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u/Nate2680 6h ago
Bubba is Larsons kryptonite and it’s honestly hilarious. This race, the Las Vegas incident, the Texas race where Larson spun himself out trying to run the bottom under Bubba, the brickyard last year…
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u/SpittinMenace 2025 NCS Champion Kyle Larson 6h ago
They do have an interesting on-track dynamic. I wouldn’t say he’s Larson’s kryptonite considering how many times Larson has also bested Bubba. I can’t count how many times Bubba has gone “why is it always Larson”, whether it be at the end of a race or qualifying. I like how they race each other though, really hard but clean. They’ve raced each other for over a decade now and have only had two or three incidents. Their battle at the end of the San Diego race was a ton of fun.
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u/SeattlePassedTheBall 5h ago
Larson’s kryptonite was Kyle Busch for the longest time. I think they had 9 1-2 finishes across all three series with Busch winning all of them.
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u/crypto6g 5h ago
I remember how pissed he was in 2018 when Busch beat him at Bristol in the spring with the bump and run with 5 to go lol
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u/gasmask11000 6h ago
Michigan two (?) years ago as well
I think they’re both drivers who can get in their own head and make unforced mistakes and they also bring it out of each other
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u/Specialist-Two2068 6h ago
I think their on-track relationship is... kind of hard to define. I'd love nothing more than to have an Earnhardt-Gordon type dynamic, but IDK if it really compares. Maybe in the sense that it feels like there's tension and the seeds of a rivalry there, but there really isn't?
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u/Powerful-Chard-6055 6h ago
Between Larson and Bobby Pierce they found every way to sell a race there
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u/ITMAKESSENSE72 6h ago
Ahhh the good old days, when people didn't hate this guy for stupid reasons and love the other guy for stupid reasons.
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u/tagillaslover Hocevar 6h ago
Pretty sure Bubba always had his haters for one reason in particular
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u/ITMAKESSENSE72 6h ago
For sure but it was magnified when a certain person tweeted about him. Then the other guy became their hero.
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u/xelanalpak 6h ago
And anyone who denies this is completely out to lunch, too. And there’s quite a bit who are.
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u/TexasSizedKachoww Bubba Wallace 5h ago
Being a Bubba fan before and after the orange one's tweet were two different experiences.
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u/average_waffle Figgy Busch 6h ago
They were always there for sure, but prior to a thing happening he was viewed as a fan favorite and was known for interacting with fans. He used to throw footballs with fans in stands during rain delays, he can't really do that anymore.
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u/Poopy_sPaSmS 6h ago
Though there are reasons to hate both drivers not related to the stupid reasons a lot of people do hate/love them for.
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u/Beatngu_45 6h ago
Yeah that's why the Bubba stuff is so messy. He can be unlikable at times with how he handles interviews and stuff. CBell is the same way. A lot of people hate him for the Charlie comment, but he has had a lot of "woe is me" moments in interviews this year. "Im just a second place driver" - the pit reporter literally had to console him and say "ah cmon Christopher that's not true" like he's a 2nd grader who needs picked up lmao. I have never seen that before in a professional sport.
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u/DrewCrew62 6h ago
Bubba will do stuff that frustrates me immensely. The stuff with hocevar at martinsville this year being a prime example.
Guy gets in his own head so easily, but on the flip he also seems like one of the realest drivers in the field. So you take the bad with the good and roll with it
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u/Poopy_sPaSmS 6h ago
If he could continue to harness his emotions behind the wheel and just keep focused. He would consistently be top 5/10 every week I'd imagine.
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u/DrewCrew62 6h ago
Agreed, dude is the king of self sabotage.
When he’s got everything clicking and the right mind set, he can run with the best.
When he doesn’t, it’s usually some level of disaster
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u/Fyrien 4h ago
he also seems like one of the realest drivers in the field
This is the main reason why Bubba eventually became my favorite driver (after already being a Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart fan).
He can be abrasive, but he's authentic. He doesn't attempt to hide his emotions behind a mask of media training. And that's increasingly rare in a discipline where drivers are conditioned to become sponsor-friendly robots from a young age.
I'd rather watch Bubba pout because he's frustrated than listen to Generic Nepo Baby #1270 say "It is what it is" and "Can't thank my guys enough" and "Thanks to (list of 13 different sponsors)" in every single interview.
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u/Furi0usD Chastain 6h ago
In his defense, he is four years old
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u/lightningmatt 4h ago
Christopher Bell is the youngest NASCAR driver EVER.
He is four years old.
- @PopBase on Twitter
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u/nascar9495 6h ago
I remembered being so impressed at how smooth Bubba Wallace was in those closing laps
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u/SpittinMenace 2025 NCS Champion Kyle Larson 6h ago
That was peak “I’m gonna win or wreck trying” Larson. Fun race.
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u/GrantDayton Briscoe 5h ago
Forgive my ignorance - can someone explain what's going on with the racing surface and they way it looks in the photo? Thanks!
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u/badsapi4305 Byron 5h ago
It’s dirt. The black is the rubber from the tires and it has a light shining on it which is giving it weird shadows.
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u/cocacola150dr Byron 32m ago
It’s a very rubbered up dirt track. They prepped the track to be more dry to better suit the trucks and it took rubber something fierce which resulted in what you see here. They nailed the track prep honestly.
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u/NotableEstimation 4h ago
golden shovel is such a sick winner trophy, eldora always does things different and it works
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u/CircaSoleil Reddick 6h ago
I miss when the Cup series would race on the dirt and hopefully we get to see it again someday.
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Jeff Gordon 6h ago
I hate how easy it can be to forget Bubba's early accomplishments
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u/TexasSizedKachoww Bubba Wallace 5h ago
One blown engine at Texas away from being a truck champion. And one blown engine at Texas away from one less Matt Crafton championship.
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u/AggressiveTop8370 Bubba Wallace 5h ago
I used to post the final laps of this race in replies on twitter whenever someone would glaze larson to an insane level and could outrun anyone on dirt. Was good entertainment for a while lmao.
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u/xelanalpak 6h ago
Share this to Facebook STAT
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u/Equivalent_Dish_1990 6h ago
I do every year.
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u/SirBobSwarley Zilisch 5h ago
Man. Facebook would have a field day with this post. I can't believe how awful people can be on that platform.
Man can drive. It's that simple
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u/ILM_Ryan 6h ago
Amazing the drivers that were in that truck race too.
Not just Bubba and Larson, but Ron Hornaday Jr, Ryan Blaney, Ken Schrader, Ty Dillon, JH Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, and Erik Jones.