NASCAR Q&A: Did Bubba rub Bootie the wrong way? Nah, that's typical racin' stuff

Can the Bubba-Bootie relationship survive that Nashville blow-up?

Survive? It might start to thrive.

The history of driver/chief conversations isn’t for the easily offended. If we’d had access to in-race conversations “back in the day,” we would’ve never allowed the women and children to tune in!

Bubba Wallace keeps having pit-road issues, and Sunday at Nashville he finally had enough and told crew chief Bootie Barker to “leave me the (bleep) alone. Don’t talk to me the whole (bleeping) race.”

Unfortunately, it often has to reach this ugly breaking point — publicly, too — for ongoing problems to get fixed.

Meanwhile, it’s a bit deep into the season for such things, but let’s assume there’ll be some lug-nut seminars this week at the No. 23 shop.

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What will be Bruton Smith’s long-term legacy?

Sometimes the easiest answer is also the obvious and correct answer: Lights.

Lighting Bristol Motor Speedway turned that track’s night race — particularly in the ’90s — into the sport’s second most popular event. But lighting Charlotte proved it could be done at the bigger and biggest tracks, and that changed the schedule in so many ways.

Track president Humpy Wheeler was the perfect sidecar occupant for Bruton.

Of course, there are those who never forgave Bruton for playing a big role in lopping North Wilkesboro and Rockingham from the schedule — duly noted, by the way — but on balance, he was a positive factor in NASCAR’s race into the modern sports-entertainment sphere.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Q&A: Did Bubba rub Bootie the wrong way in Nashville? Nope