Bubba Wallace looks on before driver introductions at a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, June 16, 2024, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace $50,000 on Wednesday for retaliatory contact against race winner Alex Bowman on the cooldown lap of the Chicago Street Race.
Wallace door-slammed Bowman’s car and sent it into the wall. Bowman said after the race he had spun Wallace during Sunday’s event and the retaliation was warranted.
Bowman also advocated for Wallace not to be punished. Bowman said Wallace “has every right be mad.”
“I’d be mad, too,” Bowman said of Wallace. “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. 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.”
Wallace’s window net was down when he slammed into Bowman after the race, and the camera inside Bowman’s car showed the driver was jostled by the hit.
NASCAR also plans to speak to Chase Elliott for his contact with Daniel Suarez after Sunday’s race.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
