Dale Earnhardt Jr. sends advice to Bubba Wallace following NASCAR fine

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sent a message for Bubba Wallace, who was fined $50,000 by NASCAR for his hit on Alex Bowman in Chicago. On the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt revealed the advice he would give to Wallace as he moves on from the incident.

“I would say to Bubba, ‘Man it wasn’t that big of a deal,'” Earnhardt said. “I would just say to Bubba, ‘Hey, I can understand the emotion, you ran into him.’ A lot of us didn’t think it should have been a fine. …I thought 50 grand was excessive. NASCAR has their reasons, I don’t know what they were. I was surprised by that. That was a large fine.

“Put it in the rearview mirror. Make the personal adjustments, but don’t have another thought about it. Maybe in this situation next time he does it differently, great. But otherwise, I think it’s not that big of an issue.”

Earnhardt also reacted to Wallace speaking to reporters about his emotions getting the best of him during his time in NASCAR. “Bubba has shared with us here in this room and everyone else his challenges with his emotions and his mental state of mind,” Earnhardt said. “I appreciate being open about that. We all probably have more mental challenges and battles going on than we like to admit. But he’s been open about that, and it seems like Bubba definitely does dwell on certain instances like this and maybe makes it a bit larger in his own mind than it is to the rest of us.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blasts NASCAR for Bubba Wallace’s $50,000 fine

Along with sharing some advice to Wallace, Earnhardt also sounded off on NASCAR for the $50,000 fine. “This got more attention than Chase [Elliott] and yes, Chase’s deal was not as egregious,” Earnhardt said. “… They’re saying Bubba hits Alex and Alex hits the wall, OK. We are at a street course, there’s freaking walls everywhere. That oughta be in consideration here. But he had his window net down and his belts off or loose? Wait a minute, I’m driving around the racetrack with my belts off? … Do you fu*king undo your belts when you’re cooling down when you’re driving? Do you pull into the driveway and just pop that belt and cruise on into the garage?

“… Let me tell ya something, that ain’t Bubba’s responsibility. That ain’t. And so, you can’t smack Bubba’s hand for Bowman having his belts loose. I can go to Bubba and say, ‘Hey, man, you know next time, he might have his belts loose. Let’s not do that.’ But I go to Bowman, ‘What the hell do you have your belts loose?’ If that’s even true, that’s hearsay. I’m hearing people say he had his window down and his belts loose or his belts off. I just can’t even believe that he would have that on a cool down lap. He’s still in the car moving.”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.