NASCAR fined driver Bubba Wallace $50,000 on Wednesday after Chicago Street Race winner Alex Bowman’s car crashed into the wall after Sunday’s race.
Wallace was angered by an incident earlier in the day, in which Bowman’s No. 23 car spun off the wet track, stopped next to Bowman’s No. 48 car after the race ended and swerved sharply to the left. The two cars collided, with Bowman’s car hitting a concrete barrier with enough force to briefly lift the right front tire off the ground.
Footage from an in-car camera showed an unprepared Bowman, whose window grille had already fallen, being pushed and then raising his hands in a “what the…?” gesture.
Bowman later said he did not think Wallace should be punished for the incident and repeatedly expressed remorse for the earlier incident that angered Wallace (who was trying to fight his way into the NASCAR playoffs with Bowman as one of his primary competitors).
“I was struggling with my windshield wiper switch trying to get it to work,” Bowman said. “I focused on that, missed the turn and overtook him. I totally screwed it up and ruined his day.”
“He has every right to be angry; I will be angry too. I tried to call him during the rain stoppage and texted him. There’s nothing I can do to make it better, and I’m sure our win will probably make it worse.”
Bowman added that Wallace “nearly hit me” and that it was “completely deserved.” But NASCAR officials viewed it differently, considering it a sufficient safety concern to issue a penalty.
There is a precedent for an angry driver being penalized after hitting a race winner. In 2006, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car spun off the track during an Xfinity Series race at Michigan, and Edwards responded by driving into Earnhardt’s door with his hand out the window. Edwards was fined $20,000 and apologized.
The importance of this fine
In the grand scheme of things, the dollar amount doesn’t matter much. It can be considered a slap on the wrist.
But by fining Wallace, what NASCAR has done is send a reminder that safety is paramount. Allowing drivers to make deliberate post-race contact with each other that results in one of the drivers hitting the wall—no matter how minor the contact—sends the wrong kind of message, a potential catalyst for something with serious consequences.
This penalty is considered the equivalent of writing a traffic ticket in NASCAR racing to remind drivers that safety should always be their top priority.
Drivers often lower their window nets and unbuckle their seatbelts during the cooldown lap, creating a scenario where someone could get hurt. Sure, it may be unlikely, but all it takes is one avoidable situation for NASCAR to descend into chaos.
If drivers have a problem with each other, there is a better way to deal with it than with a calming lap.
But what’s puzzling is why Chase Elliott did almost exactly the same thing — except he sent Daniel Suarez into the wall. Was that really the difference between Wallace getting a penalty and Elliott getting away with it? The incidents are too close to call for one to get slapped and the other not. Jordan Bianchi, Motorsports Writer
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(Photo: Ben Hsu/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
