“I ruined his day”: Alex Bowman advocates against a Bubba Wallace penalty after the 23XI Racing driver doored him at Chicago Street Course

A lot has happened between Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace during Sunday’s rain-shortened Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course. Shortly after Bowman scored a Chicago win to pick up his first win of the season, Wallace deliberately hits Bowman’s #48 car on the cool down lap to take his revenge for a spin on lap 25.

After the incident, Alex Bowman admitted his mistake and apologized to Wallace for spinning him. In fact, he advocated that he doesn’t want NASCAR to punish Wallace for dooring him at Chicago Street Course.

According to renowned journalist Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Bowman said:

“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. He barely hit me, everything was fine and it was plenty deserved.”

On 25 of 58 laps, the field was closely fought through the turn, and the rain added a challenge to it. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman tried to wipe his windshield to clear his view, but he missed the corner and spun out Wallace, hitting the wall. Afterwards, the #23 driver managed to work his way to finish inside the top-15.

According to FOX Sports Bob Pockrass, NASCAR will review the post-race incident between Wallace and Bowman for a possible penalty. The officials generally announced post-race penalties on Tuesday evening.

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Alex Bowman ends his 80-race winless streak with a Chicago win

Hendrick Motorsports driver wins wild, rain-shortened Grant Park 165 and locked his spot for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. The win marked the frustrating end of his 80-race winless streak. During that time, Bowman went through a tough phase of his career, facing back and brain injuries.

Reflecting on the physical and emotional toll of his recent hardships, Bowman said after the post-race interview (via motorsports.com):

“Man, I broke my back, had a brain injury, and we've kind of sucked ever since, and I didn't - you start to second-guess if you're ever going to get a chance to win a race again. Last one we won, we didn't really get to celebrate. We're going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight, it's going to be a bad deal. I'm probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again. That's just part of this deal sometimes."

With a Chicago win, Alex Bowman moved to 11th place in the Cup Series points table with 553 points.