NASCAR penalizes, fines Bubba Wallace $50,000 for Alex Bowman incident

NASCAR has penalized Bubba Wallace $50,000 for hitting Alex Bowman following his victory at the Chicago Street Race on Sunday.

On the other hand, Chase Elliott escaped penalty for his incident with Daniel Suárez, as NASCAR elected not to fine the former Cup Series champion. At the least, Wallace avoided a points-penalty, which would’ve been extremely detrimental, as he can’t afford to lose any with being so close to the cut-line.

“NASCAR Penalty Report is out. Bubba Wallace fined $50k for putting Alex Bowman into the wall on cooldown lap at Chicago. No penalty for Chase Elliott/Daniel Suárez run-in on cooldown lap,” Jeff Gluck of The Athletic posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Wallace hit Bowman in retaliation for Bowman spinning him earlier in the race, leading to Wallace finishing outside the top 10. Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports reported on Sunday that NASCAR was going to review the incident since Wallace contracted Bowman after he unhooked his window netting.

When speaking to NBC Sports, Bowman issued an apology to Wallace. “I have to apologize again to the 23 guys,” Bowman said. “Just messed up and trying to get my windshield wiper on and missed a corner and ruined their day. So I hate that. I’m still embarrassed by it, but we have a trophy to take home.”

After starting the 2024 Cup Series season strong with two consecutive top-five finishes, Wallace has been doing everything he can to clinch a playoff spot. His last victory came in 2022 when he won in Kansas. And despite not earning a victory in 2023, Wallace reached the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Bubba Wallace on his strong start to 2024 season

“May sound like a joke but my brain is mush. The psychological piece to plate racing is massive,” Wallace wrote on X earlier this year after his top-five finishes.

“Yes it’s big any other race but receiving and digesting the info from @FreddieKraft lap by lap, corner by corner to make sure you’re in the right spot is intense… You have to be ON from start to finish. Restarts at 1.5 miles is a lot like this..but that’s 2-3 laps. Not 460. Proud of this 23 team. I set us back today but nothing we haven’t overcome before. There is something special with this group this year!

“Time to really lock in and get the stars aligned. Back to back top 5s is great start… but there is 24 more left. Y’all enjoy it for me. Bourbon me.”

Bowman won his first race since the 2022 season and is the 12th different driver to win a Cup Series race this year. After the race, Bowman talked about how he was going to celebrate the victory.

“Last one we won, we didn’t really get to celebrate,” Bowman said. “We’re going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight, it’s going to be a bad deal. I’m probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again. That’s just part of this deal sometimes.”

On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this article.