Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar Played Rock-Paper-Scissors During Talladega Race

Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar found a way to pass the time during the slow first stage at Talladega Superspeedway. They played rock-paper-scissors.

Much of the field saved fuel for long stretches of Stage 1 in Sunday's race, which frustrated many fans . At times, cars were running well below race speed.

While the main pack crawled, RFK Racing 's three cars broke away at full speed and swept the top three spots in the stage.

Wallace mentioned the game on his team radio after his crew asked him to move past a few cars.

"I was just starting to play rock-paper-scissors with the 77 … Let him know sorry for bailing on him," Wallace said.

Hocevar confirmed the story on his Twitch stream after the race. Tim Bass posted the clip on X, and On3 transcribed it.

"Driving a hundred fifty miles an hour, going super slow compared to like 2,000 horsepower. All of a sudden in front of me is Bubba Wallace's car, and he starts doing this," Hocevar said.

"I was like, 'What is he doing?' He was telling me, 'Hey, let's play rock-paper-scissors.' So all of a sudden he started doing it," Hocevar said.

"I threw paper. He threw scissors. And so I texted him after and I was like, 'Hey, by the way, I lost rock-paper-scissors,'" Hocevar said.

Hocevar said Wallace could not believe he had seen it. "And so we're literally playing rock-paper-scissors down the front stretch. I think it was into turn one," Hocevar said.

The moment showed how slow the opening stage was. NASCAR 's Brad Moran said this week that officials warned teams running below minimum speed that they would be black-flagged. He said a fix for fuel saving will likely be NASCAR's top project for the offseason.

The rest of the day was less playful. Hocevar triggered the late crash that flipped Joey Logano , then rallied to finish sixth. Hocevar, who drives the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports , won the spring race at Talladega. Wallace, who won at Talladega in October 2021, finished 22nd in the No. 23 Toyota.

Wallace also drew attention for his radio during Stage 1, when his team asked him to help Tyler Reddick . That exchange sparked teammate drama at Talladega .

The Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track on the schedule, on Sunday. Few places in motorsports look less like Talladega's slow-moving packs.