Bubba Wallace’s day on the streets of Chicago was going quite well until the eventual race-winner Alex Bowman spun him around last Sunday. Running inside the top-10 at the time, the 23XI Racing driver retaliated after the race by door-slamming the Hendrick Motorsports star. NASCAR slapped him with a hefty fine of $50,000. Speaking ahead of the Pocono race, the driver of the #23 Toyota explained all the emotions he went through after the fact.
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Wallace touched on how he felt he was running the best road course race of his career. Road course races in general have been a sore point for the Alabama native over the course of his tenure in NASCAR. He looked in contention for a potential top-5 at the end of the day. After all that happened on the cooldown lap with Bowman, the 23XI Racing driver said that he had to apologize to a lot of people for his actions as frustration got the better of him on the day.
Bubba Wallace says he texted Alex Bowman on Monday and they are all good. pic.twitter.com/HVC0KIGXHR
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 13, 2024
“That was our best road course race ever,” he said in an interview with NASCAR. “When that’s all ripped away, you feel some type of entitlement to show your frustration and did I time it wrong? 100%.”
What made things worse for Wallace was Alex Bowman going on to win the event. Fighting for a playoffs spot as the regular season nears its end, not only did Bowman wreck Wallace, but also he also won the race, closing another playoff spot.
Bubba Wallace credits Kevin Harvick for ‘media training’ post-Chicago
Wallace admittedly had help from 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick to get through the whole situation after last Sunday. Harvick advised the #23 Toyota driver to speak to the media with a smile on his face. He also said that people don’t see the fun-loving side of Wallace on race days. That struck a chord with the Wallace.
“I will say I got my media training from Kevin Harvick,” he said. “Might not agree with the penalty but I’m smiling about it. He also told me a lot of powerful things. Just show up and be the fun-loving guy that I am throughout the week.”
Time might be running out but there are still six races to go in the regular season before the playoffs kick off. All Wallace needs is a victory to get into the round of 16. It will be interesting to see if he can achieve that feat during the coming events.
