Bubba Wallace On Altercation With Aric Almirola: “They Don’t Want Me To Get Into Details…Keep Some People’s Images Good”

His lips are sealed. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Joe Gibbs Racing had suspended Aric Almirola , who drives for them part time in the Xfinity Series, after a physical altercation with fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace last month. If you're plugged into NASCAR rumors, there have been rumblings for the past couple of weeks about Almirola's status with Joe Gibbs Racing. The retired Cup Series driver signed to drive for JGR's Xfinity Series program in a handful of races, and was supposed to compete BetMGM 300 at Charlotte last month before being replaced on the entry list just days before the race by Ty Gibbs (grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs). Almirola hasn't appeared in the Gibbs car since, and fans began wondering if he had already been let go. There were also rumors swirling that Almirola had been let go after (allegedly) punching fellow NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace during a Toyota competition meeting. (Bubba drives a Toyota for 23XI Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing runs Toyotas in both the Xfinity and Cup Series). But earlier this week, a team representative confirmed to Toby Christie that Almirola was still with the team and would be returning to the Xfinity car for the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. That might not be the full story though. Then on Thursday, Jordan Bianchi for The Athletic confirmed that Almirola was, in fact, suspended by JGR after a physical altercation with Wallace. Bianchi says industry sources confirm that the altercation occurred in the week before the Charlotte race, which resulted in Almirola being removed from the car and indefinitely suspended. The reason for the altercation isn't known, but it's reported that the team viewed Almirola as the instigator in making the decision to suspend him. But as for Bubba Wallace, he's not talking about it. Ahead of this weekend's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, Bubba was asked about the altercation, but didn't have much to say: "They don't want me to get into details. Keep some people's images good. I think I said enough at Charlotte last year." Bubba is, of course, referring to the altercation with Almirola on pit road during a rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 where the two were spotted having a heated discussion, before Almirola delivered a hard shove Wallace. https://twitter.com/NASCARONFOX/status/1663352510952742912 At the time, Bubba wasn't really in the mood to discuss Almirola, but it was clear that there's no love lost between the two: "When you walk around with two faces that's what you get." And after this latest reported altercation, Bubba still wasn't willing to say much: "All in all, life is good for me. That shit happened over a month ago, and a lot of good's come my way. And that's what I'm focused on. Focused on getting our stuff turned back around. And off the racetrack, I'm focused on my wife and baby boy that's growing and growing, so that's all you can really ask for. So things are good for me off the track. Not so much on track. That's what we're focused on right now. So there you go. That's the only question you'll get." I assume when Bubba says "they" don't want me to get into it, he's probably talking about Toyota, which fields cars for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Bubba's 23XI Racing team. And it makes sense that they don't want one Toyota driver badmouthing another publicly. So I guess that's all we'll be getting from at least one of the parties. https://twitter.com/bobpockrass/status/1807136222206210245