Michael Jordan’s NASCAR Team Reveals Plan of Action After Bubba Wallace Hijacking Incident

via Getty

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald'sToyota, walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series SouthPoint 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

NASCAR's return to the North Wilkesboro Speedway was indeed a memorable one. However, it got ugly for Bubba Wallace just after the race. After he received an unpleasant message on the radio, NASCAR didn't waste any time in launching an investigation into it. While the culprit is yet to be found, 23XI Racing has internally discussed its next course of action.

Wallace has done amazingly well to bounce back from a poor start of this campaign in standing a chance to qualify for the playoffs. However, the incident at the All-Star race was a personal attack on him and an act that is not at all welcomed or encouraged.

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Safe to say, Bubba Wallace has been part of plenty of debatable incidents in his NASCAR Cup Series career. However, one thing that has always been a constant for him is the support of Denny Hamlin. Regardless of the sensitivity of the situation, Hamlin has backed the 29-year-old driver time and again.

This time around, the support was definitely called for. After an impressive second-placed finish in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, an unknown individual hacked into Wallace's radio. Following this, the guilty personnel had a derogatory message for the Alabama-born driver. He said, "Go back to where you came from you a******. You’re not wanted in NASCAR,"

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While that was totally uncalled for, NASCAR took matters into its own hands. Unfortunately, there have been no significant developments in the case so far. However, that hasn't stopped the Michael Jordan-owned team from taking their own set of internal actions.

Co-owner Hamlin recently spoke to Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass. He gave a small idea of how 23XI Racing as a team is planning to tackle incidents like this. He said, "The team internally talked about it, about what they want to do to prevent it. We’re working on stuff on our side to prevent it but I haven't heard what the exact fix is for that. "

Denny Hamlin said his team is looking into ways to try to keep non-team members from getting on their team radios after someone was able to speak on the Bubba Wallace team radio after the North Wilkesboro event. pic.twitter.com/C3HIVkl9in

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 28, 2023

It would be interesting to see what they come up with to handle such unpleasant scenarios. However, the fans seem to be amazed with the exposure the event has got given how it has happened with other drivers previously.

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There is no question how Bubba Wallace sometimes gets more attention than many anticipate. However, it has always been a negative factor for the 23XI Racing driver than a positive one.

For informational purposes if you’d like to hear the audio that was queued into Bubba Wallace's radio post race.

It's believed to be a hack job to get on the 23's channels, something that's rare but has happened before. #NASCAR https://t.co/wMkx1u39Ks

— Matthew Burroughs (@MJBurroughs) May 22, 2023

Given how disrespectful the radio message was, Wallace should have been expecting more support. Surprisingly, fans haven't quite reacted in that fashion and instead pointed out that such occurrences are nothing new. There were some eye-opening responses received on Twitter to Hamlin's say on this controversy.

"It was happening to Hailie Deagan Friday night, but know one cares about that."

"I remember when somebody got on Danica Patrick's radio too."

"During radioactive yesterday it happened to both Kyle Busch and Jr at Charlotte in I think 2018…"

"Dale Jr had this problem back in 2000 at New Hampshire I believe where one of the radios from the tshirt truck was being heard on his radio during the race. Also anyone can get their frequency as long as NASCAR hands out the channels and all. You can break anything."

While some highlighted such incidents, many remain critical of NASCAR here. Some of them said:

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"I dont know why @nascar hasn't taken over the radios yet. I mean, there's no reason (other than money) why Nascar can't get a block of channels from the FCC and have a repeater tower at the road courses. We are LONG overdue for communication upgrades…"

"Nascar needs to go to DMR technology radios. This would solve all disruption issues. Only downfall is everyone would have to buy a new Racing Electronics radio."

"It's open analog channels. All it takes is the right equipment to access it. Surprised it doesn't happen more often. Nascar could switch to digital encrypted radios if they wanted. Maybe able to repeat those onto the analog radio as a solution?"

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WATCH THIS STORY: Dale Earnhardt Jr Slams Bubba Wallace for "Overreacting" as He Pulls a "Chase Elliott"

Surely, there is something NASCAR can do about it. However, the priority at the moment would be to first catch the guilty individual. Hopefully, the case is closed before any other driver is targeted.

Priyank Mithani

225 articles

Edited By: Ranvijay Singh

WATCH THIS STORY: Dale Earnhardt Jr Slams Bubba Wallace for "Overreacting" as He Pulls a "Chase Elliott"