NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace $50,000 after he crashed Alex Bowman’s car into a wall following a street race in Chicago

NASCAR fined driver Bubba Wallace $50,000 Wednesday after Wallace crashed Chicago Street Race winner Alex Bowman’s car into the wall after Sunday’s race ended.

Wallace, angered by an incident earlier in the day in which Bowman accidentally spun Wallace’s No. 23 car on a wet track, pulled up next to Bowman’s No. 48 car after the checkered flag and veered sharply left. The cars made contact and Bowman’s car hit a concrete barrier hard enough to briefly lift his right front tire off the ground.

A dash cam captured an unprepared Bowman, whose window net was already down, being jostled and raising his hands in a “what the…?” gesture.

Bowman later stated that he did not think Wallace should be penalized for the incident and repeatedly expressed remorse for the earlier accident which infuriated Wallace (who had been trying to force his way into the NASCAR playoffs with Bowman as one of his main competitors).

“I was fighting with my wiper switch trying to get it to work,” Bowman said. “I was focused on that, missed the turn and took him out. I ruined everything and completely ruined his day.”

“He has every right to be angry. I would be too. I tried calling him during the rain delay and I texted him. There’s nothing I can do to make things better, and I’m sure our win will only make things worse.”

Bowman added that Wallace “barely touched him” and that it was “well deserved.” But NASCAR officials saw it differently, considering it a safety issue enough to warrant a penalty.

There is precedent for an angry driver being penalized after hitting the winner of a race with his car. In 2006, Dale Earnhardt Jr. knocked Carl Edwards out of the race during an Xfinity Series race at Michigan and Edwards retaliated by hitting Earnhardt’s door while the driver’s hand was out the window. Edwards was fined $20,000 and apologized.

Importance of this fine

In the grand scheme of things, the dollar amount is largely irrelevant. Think of it as a slap on the wrist.

But in fining Wallace, NASCAR has reiterated that safety is paramount. Allowing drivers to intentionally make contact with each other after the race that sends a competitor into the wall — no matter how small — sends the wrong message, a potential catalyst for something serious.

The penalty is NASCAR’s equivalent of a traffic ticket, intended to remind drivers that safety should always be their priority.

Drivers often lower their safety nets and unbuckle their seat belts during a cool-down lap, creating a scenario where someone could get hurt. Sure, it may seem unlikely, but all it takes is one avoidable situation for NASCAR to find itself in a dire situation.

If drivers have a problem with each other, there is a better way to handle it than on the cool-down lap.

What’s puzzling is why Chase Elliott did essentially the same thing, without sending Daniel Suarez into the wall. Is it really the difference between Wallace getting penalized, while Elliott got away with it? The two incidents are too close for one to get slapped and the other not. Jordan Bianchi, motorsports journalist

Required Reading

(Photo: Ben Hsu/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)