Last weekend at the Chicago Street Course, Shane van Gisbergen was the class of the field. However, there was plenty of action behind the Kiwi driver, which included a couple of wrecks, as well as bumping and barging. One notable incident involved Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman, or should we say… a series of incidents. The incidents in question took place during the closing stages, when the two drivers traded more than just paint of each other’s race cars.

This was a big tussle because Bowman and Wallace were facing off in the In-Season Challenge. At the time, both drivers were squabbling for 7th place and traded paint several times. Finally, on the exit of Turn 2, Bowman and Bubba Wallace collided one last time before the latter spun and ended up with a broken toe link.

Bowman isn’t the type of driver who retaliates; rather, he’s got this image about being soft, at least that was the sentiment when he lost the race to Kyle Larson at Homestead. “Guess I choked that one away, for sure,” seeing the #5 in his rear-view mirror, he lost his focus and banged into the wall and wasn’t able to contest for a win. Yet, for some reason, that top 10 spot became crucial for him in Chicago. So much so that he shoved the #23 car and left Wallace spinning on the racetrack. And this is a shift in Bowman’s approach that caught Dale Jr.’s attention.

On the Dale Jr. Download, the veteran driver shared his take on the incident, “So, Bubba Wallace and Bowman got into it. This is an interesting one because we followed that up until the spin. Then we kind of stumbled and missed the spin. The battle was physical, pretty crazy and you kind of saw. I was like, ‘Oh sh-t man! Bowman’s like No, man!’ Bubba took a couple of swipes in the race car, Bubba was pretty aggressive and they banged off each other. Bubba pushed him through 12, and I was like, Aww man! I don’t know how Bowman’s going to respond to this. Is Bowman going to bow up?”

Co-host TJ Majors noted that the two drivers had upped the aggression compared to previous encounters. To that end, Dale Jr admitted that when drivers are hit at a corner, they all have different reactions to that scenario. He also noticed that Alex Bowman was more aggressive, even if he sounded civil in the post-race interview. But, despite the on-track sparks, the two drivers had no issues with each other and talked it out after the race.

Now, Bowman and Wallace have been beefing since 2019, and just last year, the 23XI Racing driver was fined $50,000 by NASCAR for intentionally bumping into the #48 Chevy during the cool-down lap. Moreover, they were also racing against each other for the In-Season challenge, which could’ve added fuel to the fire. But, Bowman going elbows out and defending his ground was a shocker to Dale Jr. However, on the flip side, Denny Hamlin had a different view of the incident, and he gave Bowman a clean chit for wrecking his driver.

Denny Hamlin wanted Bubba Wallace to capitalize on points over an on-track rivalry

Now, the driver of the #23 car isn’t locked in playoffs and has zero wins so far in 2025. Given how his past two seasons have seen his playoff fate decided on points, Hamlin wanted Wallace to get what he could’ve taken from the Chicago race. His theory was that a 12th-place finish is better than a 28th-place result, and in the aftermath of the chaos, Wallace just has two point cushion over the cutline now.

“Bigger picture is, do you want to be in the playoffs or do you not? Man, you just can’t take yourself out. They are faster than the cars, they are all around in points. But they just don’t execute. I know speed-wise, shouldn’t be in this position… At that time, Bubba’s on older tires, and the 48 is on newer tires. You’re just not going to hold that back in six laps. It’s impossible,” Hamlin said on his podcast.

The veteran driver didn’t pull punches in calling his driver out and explaining how he expects his team to make the most of the situation and capitalize on their gains. With seven races to go, Bubba Wallace and the #23 team are under immense pressure; one slip-up and they could miss out on reaching the playoffs. However, if they do miss out, Wallace and his team will look back at the Chicago race.