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Alex Bowman dumps Bubba Wallace in heated battle at NASCAR Chicago: 'We're not playing nice with this motherf***er'

Brian Jones Profile Picby:Brian Jones•07/06/25•

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Alex Bowman
(Photo by Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

Alex Bowman did not mess around with Bubba Wallace during the Chicago Street Race on Sunday. On his radio, Bowman was told,“We are not playing nice with this motherf*cker,” as he dumped Wallace during the final laps of the race.

Bowman and Wallace were battling in the top 10 before the incident happened. But the two drivers were also facing each other in the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament. With Alex Bowman finishing eighth and Bubba Wallace finishing 28th, Bowman advanced to the third round of the tournament.

Sunday’s battle was not anything new. After last year’s Chicago Street Race, Wallace doored Bowman during the cool-down lap after the latter’s victory. Wallace did that because he was spun out by Bowman earlier in the race.

“I’d be mad, too,” Bowman said of Wallace last year, per NBC Sports. “I ruined his day. The restart was chaotic. I just made every wrong decision that I possibly could. I was fighting with my windshield wiper switch, trying to get it working and I couldn’t get it working. I was focused on that, missed the corner. I locked all four tires and just slid right into him. I just messed up and absolutely ruined his day.”

More on Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace

Bowman added, “I’m pretty hard on myself when I make mistakes like that and I’ve been embarrassed about it since it happened. The rain delay was a lot of me just sitting there being embarrassed and being mad at myself.”

Both drivers needed a strong finish to stay in the playoff race. Before the Chicago event, Bowman was in 15th place in the playoff standings, and Wallace was 16th. With Wallace finishing near the bottom of the field, it’s possible he could be on the outside looking in when it comes to postseason action.

While Bowman and Wallace went head-to-head, Shane van Gisbergen won the Chicago Street Race for the second time in three years. This was his second victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season as he won at Mexico City last month.