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Alex Bowman reacts to intense battle with Bubba Wallace at Chicago: 'Felt like he kind of did it to himself'

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•07/06/25•

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Alex Bowman
Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace Round 2 at the Chicago Street Race lived up to the hype. Funny enough, Bowman vs. Wallace was the Round 2 matchup in the NASCAR In-Season Tournament.

As fate would have it, Bowman and Wallace found themselves racing for position in the top 10 in the closing laps of Sunday’s race. The two were beating and banging, looking as if either one could send the other spinning. It was Bowman who got the upper hand, sending Wallace around in Turn 2 on Lap 70. Bowman finished eighth, Wallace P28. Bowman addressed the incident and said that from his perspective, “felt like he kind of did it to himself.”

“I thought we had squashed our beef, but clearly not,” Bowman told Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “I followed the 45 [Tyler Reddick] past him, he ran me into the inside wall into Turn 8. Still felt like I passed him clean, and he absolutely demolished me into Turn 12. I gave it back a little into Turn 1, and then he demolished me again into Turn 2, ran me into the outside wall. I’m just a pinball between him and the outside wall at that point. Certainly, not trying to crash anybody.

“I’d have to watch it back to be certain, but I felt like he kind of did it to himself because I kept getting pinballed between him and the outside wall. Wasn’t the intention, but I don’t know — we had way fresher tires than him. I get the In-Season tournament is a lot, but at that point, I’m just trying to finish the best I can. I wasn’t really thinking about that. Don’t know if that’s what it was about or what, but unfortunate that it happened. It tore up our car a bunch and killed his day.”

Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace exchange words after Chicago Street Race

It was in last year’s Chicago Street Race when Wallace doored Bowman during the cool-down lap after the latter’s victory. NASCAR fined him $50,000 for last year’s incident. Ahead of Sunday’s race, Wallace and Bowman took a walk together with Marty Snider of TNT. With both drivers starting from the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments, Snider asked Wallace if they would take it easy on each other early in the race.

Wallace reminded him that Bowman “wrecked the hell” out of him to win last year’s Chicago Street Race: “Ask Alex what he did last year. He wrecked the hell out of me to win the race. A door slam — we’re not even, so I hope he knows that. $50,000 versus $1 million — pennies.”

Bowman thought the beef had been settled. Wallace either disagreed, or this was simply a case of racing hard as it pertains to the In-Season Challenge. The two did chat after the race, and they ended it with a smile and a hug.

We’ll see if this lingers to next Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway. At the very least, the battle provided some entertainment at the end of the first rain-free Chicago Street Race.