Alex Bowman finally broke an 80-race winless streak following his win in the Grant Park 165 on the Chicago street course. It wasn’t without controversy, however. Bowman made contact with Bubba Wallace on lap 25, sending the No. 23 broadside and largely out of contention, which wasn’t the first time the two have had contact at a road course before.
While Bowman tried to apologize and took full responsibility for the incident, it didn’t do much to assuage Wallace, who was battling with Bowman for one of the final playoff positions. Wallace slammed into the side of Bowman on the cool down lap, and was fined $50,000 by NASCAR for his actions. While NASCAR has taken action against Wallace and Carson Hocevar the week prior, it did not address Chase Elliott who had a similar dust up with Daniel Suarez on the cool-down lap.
Given the disparity between Hocevar right-hooking Harrison Burton at Nashville and the no call on Elliott, did Wallace’s actions warrant a fifty-grand fine? This week, Andrew Stoddard and Joy Tomlinson weigh out the circumstance in 2-Headed Monster.
Wallace’s Penalty Does Not Fit the Crime
NASCAR’s decision to penalize Bubba Wallace represents a departure from how the governing body normally handles post-race altercations.
In the past, NASCAR has laid down the law for contact between drivers on pit road after the race. On the other hand, they have let similar incidents on the cooldown lap go without penalty. To illustrate this precedent, let’s talk through a few examples.
First, let’s go back in time to the 2014 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This race was so full of post-race fireworks that there is a decent chance you don’t remember who won (it was Kevin Harvick, by the way).
The drama after the checkered flag included Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin going at it on the cool-down lap, followed by Keselowski driving into both Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart on pit road. Stewart responded in kind by shifting his No. 14 Chevrolet into reverse and smashing the front of Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford, while Kenseth got into a physical altercation with Keselowski in the infield.
A few days later, NASCAR assessed fines to Keselowski and Stewart of $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, while Hamlin and Kenseth escaped without penalty. What was the difference? Hamlin’s extracurricular activity occurred during the cool-down lap, while Kenseth’s occurred outside the cockpit.
Fast forward to the inaugural race on the Charlotte ROVAL in 2018. Jimmie Johnson spun out in the frontstretch chicane and got into Martin Truex Jr., opening the door for Ryan Blaney to snag the checkered flag.
Truex, perhaps thinking the final lap contact was intentional, caught up to Johnson on the cool-down lap and spun him out, with several other cars in the area.
What was Truex’s penalty? Nothing, because like in 2014, the contact occurred on the cool-down lap instead of on pit road.
One last example, this time in the Xfinity Series. At Martinsville Speedway in 2021, Ty Gibbs got into it with Sam Mayer on both the cool-down lap and pit road after late-race contact between the two young guns.
In the aftermath, Gibbs got fined $15,000, with NASCAR making it clear that the penalty was for hitting Mayer’s car on pit road with crew members, officials, and other people around at the time.
Now, some may point to Carson Hocevar’s recent $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty for wrecking Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville Superspeedway as justification for Wallace’s penalty.
However, that incident happened during the race with safety trucks on the track, and it had the potential to impact the outcome. Ultimately, Burton wrecked out of the race later during the onslaught of overtimes, rendering Hocevar’s spin under yellow largely inconsequential.
Nonetheless, NASCAR still needed to penalize Hocevar to make an example of him and to remain consistent with its prior history of cracking down on drivers wrecking other competitors under caution.
It could also be argued that Wallace’s contact with Bowman created a safety issue on the cool-down lap as drivers may be unbuckling their safety equipment. A valid point to be sure, but I disagree for two reasons.
One, drivers typically wait until they are parked on pit road to unbuckle their belts, detach their HANS device, and take all the other steps to get out of the car. Secondly, the speeds are slow enough on the cool-down lap to the point of taking serious injury out of the equation.
The benchmark for NASCAR officiating is that officials need to be consistent. The penalty to Wallace misses that mark. – Andrew Stoddard
NASCAR Has to Draw The Line Somewhere and Soon
Yes, the $50,000 fine against Wallace was appropriate.
Wallace doored Bowman hard enough to where the No. 48 lifted off the ground on the side. He also caused Bowman to hit the wall — a concrete one, not one with a SAFER barrier. When window nets are down, that is not the place and time to settle your differences. Bowman’s car could’ve gotten damaged from the retaliation.
Wallace had time during a red flag to reach out to Bowman, especially after Bowman apologized to him on air for turning him. He could’ve said, “you know what, I’m just going to focus on the rest of my race and let this one go.” He could’ve also discussed it after the race with Bowman, like Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott did. Instead Wallace is hit with a fine for his actions.
Now, I know that drivers don’t forget when they’ve been wronged, but everyone has a choice in whether to seek revenge or not. I think Wallace let his emotions get the best of him there, and he had to pay for it (literally).
I also think it’s possible that Wallace didn’t mean to lift his car off the ground a bit and turn Bowman in the wall. Perhaps he just wanted to show his displeasure a bit, the way others in the past have done. The tire could’ve gotten stuck somehow like what happened between Joey Logano and Chase Elliott in a crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Even if it did, though, it doesn’t mean Wallace shouldn’t be penalized for it just because he didn’t mean to hit him that hard.
The reason why I think he was penalized and Elliott wasn’t is partly because Elliott didn’t run Suarez into the wall in his retaliation, at least it appeared that way on Daniel Hemric’s on-board camera. It’s similar to others’ actions in the past, like Martin Truex Jr., who doored Kyle Larson and bumped Denny Hamlin after the race at Richmond Raceway.
I’m sure NASCAR looks at things on a case-by-case basis and not look at previous incidents with other drivers, but perhaps it should consider the times when Wallace lost his cool, like when he turned Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, or when he threw water and a bottle at Bowman when he was receiving medical attention at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2019.
Also, the incident wasn’t extremely bad like it was at Las Vegas, and the cars were much slower on the cooldown lap. This could be why it was just a fine and not a points deduction and/or a suspension.
Plus, we don’t even know how all those other drivers that got turned within the last few laps felt about their competitors after the race. Per Denny Hamlin on Actions Detrimental, “every corner I kept gaining a spot because somebody would ship someone into the corner and send them into the tire barriers.” So if all those drivers wanted to seek revenge on their peers, it would be a very busy cooldown lap. Sometimes things happen, especially at the close of races, and NASCAR can’t see every single thing that happens. It’s part of racing.
But what Wallace did wasn’t right, for reasons previously mentioned. Hopefully he learns from this and moves forward. –Joy Tomlinson
About the author
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
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Hey Andrew, winners take their safety straps and harness off on the track. Was it you who used the word bump in the lead ! Yes I remember Kenseth creeping up and jumping on Keselowski’s back from behind.
I’m shaking my head, and laughing at, the clowns on Facebook who think Wallace should be suspended and run out of NASCAR for this.
I bet some of those same fans think the drivers are too vanilla and don’t show enough emotion.
The fine is appropriate.
You hit a guy and shove him into the wall when he has his safety harness off? You deserve more than a fine.
Darell Wallace obviously has a disease like jealousy for Bowman and Hendrick because they usually consistently outperform him. Denny shows the same obsessive behavior with HMS . Just go back and study their actions.
This wasn’t the first time he has had a temper tantrum on the track. Part of the reason for the fine was his past behaviour. Will he ever learn? NAH!
Fine was excessive, but the crazy liberal NASCAR fans want the drivers to all get participation trophies and perform a circle jerk on the front stretch after the race, so I understand it. Amazing how race fans went from loving racing and freedom to a bunch of whiny little d’bags who hate racing.
I wonder if Bubba has to pay the fine by the next example of Brian’s product in order to participate?