Dale Jarrett says Bubba Wallace didn’t ‘choke’ when he lost lead at Texas

Those final restarts at Texas were exciting for fans. Bubba Wallace felt that he “choked” when he lost the lead, but Dale Jarrett says otherwise. In NASCAR, only one person gets to win. Plain and simple, everyone else goes home a loser. When you race up front on a more consistent basis, those win-or-lose moments become more common.

Of course, Bubba Wallace is often hyper-critical of himself. He was able to outlast Kyle Larson, but that final restart ended up costing him. Did he “choke” or was it just racing? With hindsight, Wallace probably chooses the inside on Chase Briscoe, but the outside worked on three previous restarts.

Dale Jarrett, who knows a thing or two about winning races. The 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion has won, and lost in the biggest moments in the sport. He doesn’t believe Bubba choked at all.

“I think they both [Wallace, William Byron] hesitated just for a split second there, but as Bubba hestitated, Byron saw that hesitation. I don’t think Bubba choked in this, that’s a tough, tough spot to get yourself in. Bubba didn’t do anything wrong to get in that spot, and what he did, turned out to be a wrong thing, but it wasn’t the wrong thinking that he was doing. I think if he had gone on and commited completely to taking his car to the very bottom of the race track, that probably Byron is going to back out and not create a contact there.”

Jarrett went on to say, “He just opened the door. I don’t blame him for that. That’s not choking, that’s learning. He’s still having to learn how to race in a different set of circumstances.”