Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Dale Jarrett’s advice to Bubba Wallace on spin: ‘Keep your mouth shut’

NASCAR Hall of Famer and NASCAR on NBC Sports analyst Dale Jarrett didn’t mince words when asked his thoughts on Bubba Wallace being fined $50,000 and docked 50 driver points after admitting he spun to bring out a caution during last Sunday’s Cup playoff race at Texas:

“So what is my advice, what do I take away from that? Keep your mouth shut,” Jarrett said.

Jarrett gave his opinion during NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying broadcast on NBCSN.

Wallace admitted Friday during an interview with NBC Sports at ISM Raceway that he intentionally spun to bring out the caution.

“I learned from Brad (Keselowski) and Joey (Logano),” Wallace told NBC Sports. Wallace’s spin was criticized by Kyle Larson, whose track position was impacted by the caution.

When asked if he was worried about repercussions from NASCAR, Wallace added, “Until they do anything, no. I’m not the only one to do it. I’m racing for myself. Not for (Kyle) Larson. Not for Chevrolet at that moment. For myself and going multiple laps down.”

To that, Jarrett gave Wallace some advice.

“Don’t tell everybody what’s in your mind,” Jarrett said. “There’s only one person that knows that. So I’m not telling anybody to go lie, I’m just saying to keep your mouth shut. You’re the only person that knows exactly what happened and this was the case last week at Texas.

“I will say this much, even when he spun out to bring out the caution, as he said he did, he didn’t keep it off the wall. He actually hit the wall. It was detrimental in many ways. I don’t think NASCAR could have and would have done anything – we went all week and they didn’t do anything. So, just don’t admit what you did, just go on with it and have everybody wonder about that.

So, just don’t admit what you did, just go on with it and have everybody wonder about that.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about drivers doing this and that. It’s something that’s gone on since the beginning of this sport and will continue to go on. You can take situations and put NASCAR in that position if you want to. Sometimes you might like their decision and what they come up with and other times you might not.

“But if you feel it’s worth the risk and gamble to put them in that position, to me, what they told everybody is whatever you do, whether it was intentional or not, keep your mouth shut about it.”

Follow @JerryBonkowski