Kevin Harvick reacts to Bubba Wallace-Alex Bowman 'bumper war' at NASCAR Chicago

The final laps of the Chicago street race on Sunday were mired with controversy. From the timing of the final caution after Cody Ware’s wreck, to Alex Bowman spinning around Bubba Wallace after plenty of contact, there was no shortage of drama.

The latter incident caught the attention of many pundits, particularly because it came one year after Wallace doored Bowman on a victory lap at Chicago. That one didn’t sit well at the time.

And though it appeared the two drivers might have squashed their beef in a pre-race interview, tensions once again flared on the track. Wallace aggressively attempted to fend off Bowman from the rear, only to see his day ended after he was ultimately spun around following significant contact back and forth.

“You talk about the history and it was definitely rough,” analyst Kevin Harvick said on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. “You see Bubba kind of turn over the 48 right there, but that had been going on while they were side by side. Then it evolved into a little bit of a bumper war here going into the last corner. And they got connected right there.”

Harvick seemed a little hesitant to get into the whole drama of the incident. Instead, he harped on the current points standings, where both Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace are somewhat at risk.

With that in mind, Harvick seemed to suggest that the smarter move would have been letting cooler heads prevail. Alas.

“It was intense and I think that ultimately it wound up taking Bubba out of the race with the things that went on here in Turn 2,” Harvick said. “I don’t know. I think it was pretty aggressive, and both of these guys are in a unique position as far as, well Bubba moreso than Alex from a points standpoint, so not what he needed from the points piece of it. But definitely pretty intense.”

Mamba Smith, Harvick’s co-host on the podcast, had a chance to interview Bowman after the race. He provided the driver of the No. 48’s perspective about the incident with Bubba Wallace.

“Alex, he was just surprised and his in-car from this whole battle, he was like, ‘I just don’t know why you would race someone like that who has fresher tires,'” Smith said. “That was coming, making the moves that Alex was able to make, and chased him down. I hate the result, I hate that someone got turned around for it, and unfortunately for Bubba it really was unfortunate from a points standpoint.”

Smith, though, overall was a fan of the intense sequence of driving from Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman. It might not have suited either driver in the long run, but it did serve the fans.

“I’m not going to dog anyone in this situation, because we want, the fans and all of us want to see guys laying it all out on the line,” Smith said. “So when they do I’m not going to sit here and be like, ‘Well that was stupid.’ I’m going to be like, ‘He laid it all out there.’ Did the result be what you wanted it to be? No. But like we have something to talk about that’s hard racing, that’s what we want to see week in and week out. Send it, boys.”

Harvick once again preached patience for Bubba Wallace given the circumstances. The prudent move might not have been the one that felt good in the moment.

“We want to see it, but I think it could have been prevented,” Harvick said. “And I think that that big-picture point piece of it is super important at this point because both of those guys, in my opinion, are on the verge of being out.

“(Ryan) Preece is outrunning them both currently and making up ground pretty quick. I think that we could, I mean there was a moment there where (AJ) Allmendinger was kind of in the mix, (Michael) McDowell was kind of in the mix at the beginning before he had his issues. Going to another road course. We still have to go to Daytona. I don’t know. Both of those guys are in an uncomfortable position of being on the outside looking in. So I don’t know.”