During the aftermath of the Grant Park 165 race in Chicago last weekend, where Bubba Wallace finished 13th, a controversial moment took place: Wallace intentionally made contact with race winner Alex Bowman’s No. 48 car, propelling it into the near wall post-checkered flag. This action led to a hefty $50,000 fine imposed on Wallace by NASCAR, citing violations of Sections 4.4.B & D of their Member Code of Conduct.
23XI Racing, the team Wallace races for, has now publicly addressed the situation. Steve Lauletta, President of 23XI Racing hinted that the team will not look to appeal the decision, posting to social media:
“Unfortunately hard to be fully consistent with judgement calls, on to Pocono.”
Interestingly, the penalty contrasts starkly with another recent incident involving Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez, where physical altercations during the cool-down lap led to no penalties. This inconsistency has drawn attention, however, NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass posted an explanation to social media as to why one incident ended in a penalty and the other didn’t. He wrote, as we previously reported:
“Also been told that NASCAR does plan to talk to Chase Elliott… 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.”
Reflecting on his actions, Suarez admitted:
“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.”
Meanwhile, Bowman, despite being directly involved, downplayed the impact of Wallace’s maneuver, revealing that he did not feel it should end in a penalty for the 23XI Racing driver:
“He barely hit me, everything was fine and it was plenty deserved.
“I’d be mad, too. I ruined his day. I just messed up. I’ve been embarrassed about it since it happened. I tried to call him during the rain delay and I shot him a text.”
Wallace currently stands as the first competitor outside of the playoff positions, trailing by 45 points. With six races left in the regular season, the focus remains on overcoming this controversy and clawing back into a playoff spot.
The next race, The Great American Getaway 400, is just two days away on Sunday 14 July at the Pocono Raceway which will be followed by the Verizon 200 At The Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 21 July.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
The post NASCAR News: 23XI Racing Speaks Out After Huge Bubba Wallace Misconduct Fine appeared first on Newsweek.
