Bubba Wallace denies he intentionally hit Kyle Larson in 'exceptionally dangerous' move before the pair got into an altercation

• Bubba Wallace appeared to retaliate against Kyle Larson, causing a wreck during the Las Vegas playoff race.
• After the wreck, Wallace shoved Larson several times during a confrontation.

Bubba Wallace got into an altercation with Kyle Larson after crashing out of the Las Vegas race this weekend.

The pair got tangled up on the track, with defending champion Larson pushing Wallace into the wall coming out of a turn. After the cars separated, Wallace veered left and appeared to intentionally hit Larson from behind, causing both to spin and be knocked out of the race.

After the wreck, Wallace wasn't done.

After he climbed out of his car, he calmly walked over to Larson and started shoving and berating him for pushing him into the wall.

To make matters worse, the wreck also knocked playoff driver Christopher Bell out of the first race in the Round of Eight. With only two races left to decide which four drivers will compete for the championship, Bell now likely needs a win to advance.

Everybody in the booth during the broadcast seemed to agree that Wallace had a right to be upset with Larson but that he took it too far. Former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton was the most vocal, criticizing Wallace for how he retaliated.

"It just looks like to me that Bubba hangs a left to retaliate," Burton said. "I've got a problem with that. As fast as they're going, and you hit a guy in the right-rear corner panel, that's exceptionally dangerous.... That's not right. Kyle Larson clearly messed up and got Bubba in the wall, and that's on Larson. But the retaliation on a right-rear corner panel on a mile-and-a-half race track, that is exceptionally dangerous."

Immediately after the wreck, Larson's crew chief Cliff Daniels could be heard on the radio calling the move intentional.

"Well, if that wasn't intentional, I don't know what was," Daniels said.

Wallace was asked about Daniels' comment and denied he hit Larson on purpose.

"Cliff is smart enough to know how easy these cars break," Wallace told NBC. "When you get shoved into the fence deliberately like he did, trying to force me to lift [off the gas], the steering was gone. He just so happened to be there ... I don't lift. I know I am kinda new to racing up front; I don't lift."

When Wallace was asked again about retaliation, he shut it down, saying, "Stop fishing. Stop fishing."

However, NBC's on-screen telemetry seemed to disprove Wallace's defense. It showed that Wallace was all the way down on the gas just before hitting Larson, something that would not have been expected if he did not have control of the steering.