Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell shared a mysterious confrontation on pit road following NASCAR’s Cup Series race in New York.
Shane van Gisbergen secured his seventh Cup Series win with victory at Watkins Glen International on Sunday.
But cameras soon caught an apparent dispute between Wallace, who drives for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, and Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing.
The pair were spotted speaking animatedly to each other after climbing out of their cars at the end of the 100-lap race.
Both had endured difficult afternoons, with Bell finishing 21st and Wallace crossing the line eight places further back following a spin.
Footage appeared to show Wallace remonstrating with Bell. The 23XI driver was up in his rival’s face and gesticulating wildly with his hands.
Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell shared a mysterious confrontation at Watkins Glen
Wallace is a driver for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan
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But his spotter Freddie Kraft later hit out at online rumors over what caused the confrontation. ‘You shouldn’t speculate,’ he said. ‘Bubba wasn’t mad at Bell.’
Both Bell and Wallace represent teams owned by sporting legends. Jordan co-owns 23XI Racing alongside NASCAR icon Denny Hamlin.
Joe Gibbs, meanwhile, is a three-time Super Bowl-winning coach who became the first person to be inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
On Sunday, however, van Gisbergen started from pole position and scored his second consecutive win at Watkins Glen International.
He led for 74 of 100 laps in his No 97 Chevrolet and afterwards the New Zealander said: ‘We weren´t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, and then today, what a race car’
He continued: ‘Then (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that, it’s very, very special to do two in a row.’
Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van Gisbergen emerged in 24th and was nearly 30 seconds behind leader Ty Gibbs.
Extending his Cup record of wins by a driver born outside the United States, the New Zealand native needed only 17 laps to retake the lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell.
