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NASCAR announced Wednesday morning that Bubba Wallace has been fined $50,000 for his actions following the checkered flag in last weekend's Chicago Street Race, where he retaliated against race winner Alex Bowman for contact between the two earlier in the race. Wallace was penalized under Sections 4.4 B & D of the NASCAR rulebook detailing the sanctioning body's code of conduct.

While racing for a position early in stage 2, and amid what had been a points battle between the two for the last spot above the playoff cut line, Bowman had spun Wallace in turn 2, setting him back deep in the field after he had run in the top 10 during the opening stage and effectively taking him out of contention. After Bowman went on to win the race, Wallace retaliated during the cooldown lap, doorslamming Bowman's car while his window net was down and squeezing him into the outside wall.

NASCAR's decision to fine Wallace following Chicago comes on the heels of a separate incident at New Hampshire that also bordered on a safety issue, when Wallace expressed his displeasure with Noah Gragson for a crash in turn 1 by driving up close to Gragson's car while it was stopped in its pit box. According to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, safety concerns were a factor in penalizing Wallace for dooring Bowman, as the contact was enough that it knocked Bowman's hands off his steering wheel.

Bowman had taken responsibility and was apologetic for the contact earlier in the race, saying that he did not believe Wallace should be penalized given that it was light contact and "plenty deserved".

"Bubba and I, we had our deal a long time ago (at Charlotte in 2019), but even today we raced the hell out of each other," Bowman said. "We gave each other a lot of space, and it was really fun racing with him, and we've raced each other super fair and super clean, and I just messed up and ruined his day, so I hate that."

The past two weeks have put Wallace in a difficult and frustrating position, as two of the drivers he had been directly competing with for the last spot above the playoff cut line have won two weeks in a row, putting Wallace now 45 points back of Chris Buescher for the last remaining playoff spot on points. Wallace made the playoffs for the first time in his career last year and finished 10th in the championship standings, but he has yet to win a race in 2024 to secure a playoff berth.

Curiously, there was an absence of discipline from NASCAR for a similar incident on the cooldown lap in which Chase Elliott retaliated against Daniel Suarez for spinning him out on the final lap in similar fashion. While Elliott has not had a recent history of such behavior, Pockrass reported that NASCAR plans to speak with Elliott concerning his own actions.