Bubba Wallace laments Phoenix agony after early | Sports News

Bubba Wallace’s frustration was clear after a brake failure ended his NASCAR Cup Series race early on Sunday.

Wallace suffered an early exit at Phoenix Raceway after his brakes blew out, sending him into the Turn 1 wall. The 23XI Racing star was forced to accept a 29th-placed finish, as Christopher Bell claimed his third consecutive Cup Series victory.

Bell finished ahead of Wallace’s boss Denny Hamlin in second and 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson in third, having already won at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Circuit of the Americas this year. His victory on Sunday means William Byron, the current leader in the drivers’ championship, is the only other man to claim a win this season after his triumph in the Daytona 500.

Wallace was asked by FOX Sports what caused his wreck on Sunday. “Brakes blew out,” he replied. “It’s unfortunate. I didn’t have any sign leading up to that last restart that we had.

“I just noticed around Lap 3 or 4 that my pedal just traveled further than it has, just by a little bit. I turn on my fans, came back, and that was it. It’s a bummer.

“We didn’t have the best of starts or best of mid-race… but I felt like we finally got our big break and cracked into the top 10 and was gonna make something of it, trying to survive. And it just got ripped out from underneath us. It’s unfortunate, I hate it.

“We’ve had such a strong start to the season. But, all in all, to be p—– off about it, it is what it is. The team executed – I felt like I executed – all day, and it just wasn’t on the cards. We’ll go back home and fly back out to Vegas and go have some fun.”

Wallace finds himself 12th in the drivers’ championship, having finished 29th, ninth, 20th, and now 29th in his four Cup Series races this season. As Wallace noted, next weekend’s race is the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Katherine Legge makes history but struggles at Phoenix

History was made at Phoenix, as Katherine Legge became the first woman since Danica Patrick in 2018 to race in the Cup Series. But it was a day to forget for Legge, who spun out twice before ending early.

“It was a really rough start,” Legge told FOX Sports. “We made some changes to the car overnight, and they were awful. I was hanging on… I was so loose, I was just hanging on to it.

“And then we kept making adjustments, and we kept making the car way more stable for me. And then at the end there, I think we were relatively quick compared to the field, so it wasn’t bad. I wish we hadn’t made the changes (overnight), but we were trying to find some pace, and we found it throughout the race, but it was a rough start.”

Legge was asked what her first Cup Series experience was like. She replied: “Baptism of fire. I think there’s a lot of positives to take from it. Obviously there were mistakes made, but I learned so much and hopefully I get to come back and do it again.”