Bubba Wallace 'Junked' By Blaney, NASCAR Stars Enjoy Spring Break, Kyle Busch Gets Lucky, Larson Almost Impaled, Team Fight

Have a ratings problem? Bring back your most popular driver AND go to the wildest, most unpredictable track on your schedule. NASCAR did both in back-to-back weeks and I have a feeling the payoff will be worth it.

Hell, did anyone see that Talladega crowd on Sunday? What is this, 1998? Unlike Bud Light's sales, I think NASCAR should be in the green when the numbers come out. Just a hunch.

And hey -- it doesn't hurt to have arguably the two biggest villains in the sport battling it out on the final lap.

Mix in a little dramatic Bubba Wallace, and you've got yourselves a damn show!

OK, Bubba wasn't bad this week. Honestly, I was expecting to torch him this morning, but I think OutKick's favorite driver is growing up.

More, of course, in a bit.

What else do ya'll wanna touch on this morning? Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney partying for spring break with Hooters Gianna in Florida? Sure, why not!

How about Kyle Busch getting lucky? Seems a bit risky, but we'll give it a shot. Ross Chastain causing another wreck and nearly impaling Kyle Larson? Absolutely!

Sad Michael Jordan? Yep. Organizations robbing each other? Check!

I think that should be enough to get us all going this week.

Four tires, fuel and maybe a new door for Kyle Larson ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop -- the 'Holy Crap, How Did They Walk Away From That?' edition -- is LIVE!

Bubba Wallace got a little too blocky at Talladega

It was a superspeedway race, so OF COURSE we have to start with Bubba, right?

I know the NASCAR scripts haven't been leaked yet, but I'm pretty sure Bubba contending for the win on the final lap at Daytona or Talladega is in there every single year.

And, right on cue, guess who took the lead coming to the white flag on Sunday?!

Unfortunately, it was probably half-a-lap too soon for Bubba -- you generally don't wanna be leading that early on the final lap. But Wallace saw his chance and took it ... and then had to block buddy Ryan Blaney not one, not two, but THREE times.

And, according to Gianna's boyfriend, that's two too many.

Poor Michael Jordan -- guy can't win anything!

Look, I know that last video is pretty funny, and certainly will feed into the Bubba Wallace is a crybaby narrative, but he gets a big pass from me on this one.

He took blame, joked about it, and got pissed after the fact because he probably did have the car to beat yesterday. Nothing wrong with any of it.

Plus, you know, he gave us some more A+ content. And isn't that what all of this is really about?

Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott enjoy NASCAR spring break with Hooters Gianna

Before we continue breaking down 'Dega, let's take a quick trip down to Florida, where Ryan Blaney, Gianna Tulio and Chase Elliott (fine, and others) enjoyed a little R&R during spring break.

Like the queen she is, Gianna took us behind the scenes with a couple Instagram heaters.

Been a hot and heavy few weeks for NASCAR's No. 1 WAG, and her grip on that top spot is tighter than ever.

Puerto Rico one week, taking shots in a Florida pool the next. It's her world, folks. Put a damn ring on it, Rhino!

Kyle Busch 'gets lucky' at Talladega

No, not that kind of lucky you animals! Although who knows how he and Samantha celebrated the big win?

Rowdy finally broke through at Talladega after years of heartbreak, literally doing nothing other than finding himself in the right place at the right time.

Frankly, that's pretty much the key to winning any superspeedway race, though.

Such a freaking pro. Go get you a McLaren custom grill, STAT! They're bomb and we need the help!

Side note: how dicey are things with sponsors behind closed doors right now if Kyle Busch is making public pleas to buy grills? Yikes.

Anyway, good win for Rowdy and good start to his RCR tenure. Two wins already and we ain't even in May.

Great move, Joe Gibbs!

Pucker up, Kyle. OutKick OG Samantha is coming for some winning sugar!

Ross Chastain continues to be NASCAR enemy No. 1

Congrats again, Rowdy!

Give Bubba Wallace a bit ol' 'atta boy' when you see him, and, while you're at it, maybe thank Ross Chastain, too.

Yep -- another week, another Ross the Boss wreck! Don't think this one was totally his fault, but it pissed drivers off nonetheless.

What do we think here? Team Ross or Team Noah?

To me, it looks like Chastain made a move, found a hole, stuck his nose in it (go ahead, make the joke) and was clearly there before Gragson could throw the block. Pretty obvious from my end, but Noah thought otherwise.

That's fine. He's wrong, but it's fine.

Two laps to go at Talladega and you see a chance to make it three-wide for the lead? Kind of hard to pass that up.

PS: how annoyed is Noah Gragson in that video? Kid's a psycho but doesn't have enough street cred at the Cup level to really let his true colors show. Just wait. He's gonna be electric here pretty soon.

Kyle Larson nearly got impaled

Wendy's Noah didn't like that move by Chastain, and Kyle Larson was a little frosty after, too.

Whoooooof. That was so bad. I'm sorry.

Anyway, Larson got caught up in that mess, got door-slammed on his way up the track and his Chevy did NOT do well on the safety test.

Good lord. That in-car shot from Preece, who also called it the hardest hit of his career, is something else.

And Larson is 100% correct. He's lucky as hell that happened on the passenger door and not his. I'm not sure what would have happened, but I'm glad we won't find out.

Maybe NASCAR should take that bad boy back to safety headquarters for inspection? Just a thought.

We have NASCAR teams stealing their own pit crews

Finally, on our way out ... wanna see an example of a promotion in NASCAR? Of course you do!

Over the weekend, the Brad Keselowski-owned RFK Racing team announced it was swapping pit crews between the No. 17 and No. 47 cars.

Essentially, Kez is taking Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s crew and giving them to Chris Buescher because Buescher's team has stunk this year and he drives one of the main cars for RFK.

Stenhouse Jr., the Daytona 500 winner, drives for single-car team JTG Daugherty Racing, which gets all of its pit crew members from ... you guessed it, RFK!

Anyway, Ricky wasn't thrilled.

Love passive aggressive Brad Keselowski, by the way.

Gotta check my service ...

Hilarious. Kind of a dick move if we're being honest, but that's why being the boss is kind of awesome. You do whatever the hell you want and then get to make snide remarks afterwards.

Sorry, Ricky -- we're gonna go ahead and take your guys for the weekend, here's this ragtag group of losers who couldn't cut it with us. Enjoy!

Off to Dover.

Written by
Zach grew up in Florida, lives in Florida, and will never leave Florida ... for obvious reasons. He's a reigning fantasy football league champion, knows everything there is to know about NASCAR, and once passed out (briefly!) during a lap around Daytona. He swears they were going 200 mph even though they clearly were not.