Insider explains why NASCAR penalized Bubba Wallace but not Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott escaped discipline from NASCAR for his role in the run-in with Daniel Suarez during the cool-down lap following the conclusion to Sunday’s Chicago Street Race.

Elliott took a swipe at the side of Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet and then sped up in front of him. He then hit his brakes, as captured from Daniel Hemric’s onboard camera. Whereas Elliott didn’t receive any discipline from NASCAR, Bubba Wallace was fined $50,000 for dooring race-winner Alex Bowman on the cool-down lap.

As for why Elliott got off with nothing and Wallace didn’t, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports explained there was one key difference in both instances.

“Also been told that NASCAR does plan to talk to Chase Elliott,” Pockrass wrote on X. “… In-car footage shows that Bowman had to catch his car after Wallace contact (force of the contact apparently caused his hands to come off the steering wheel) while that didn’t happen in the Elliott-Suarez contact.”

Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez have conversation on pit road after cool-down lap incident

The incident between Elliott and Suarez can be traced back to the final lap of the race. Battling for P13 in Turn 11, Elliott made contact with Suarez. That sent Suarez into Brad Keselowski, who went into the tire barriers. On the next turn, Suarez sent Elliott for a spin. Elliott got his retaliation on the cool-down lap and then confronted Suarez on pit road after the race. Things didn’t appear to get too heated, both walking away after a brief conversation.

“He pushed me a little bit and then I pushed him with all my intention. And I ended up hitting him pretty good on the very last corner. My bad on that,” Suarez said of the incident, via Frontstretch.

Suarez finished 11th, while Elliott came away with a P21 finish. It’s the first time this season Elliott has finished outside the top-20. Elliott is only 11 points back of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the top spot in the points standings.