Freddie Kraft, Bubba Wallace’s spotter, defended the driver’s questionable maneuvering on the cool-down lap, much criticized by Alex Bowman. Kraft said such incidents are common in the sport, occurring almost every race weekend. To further defend his driver, the spotter described a collision with Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez’s cars after the race in Chicago.
While Alex Bowman won the rain-shortened 58-lap race on the Chicago Street Course, ending his streak of 80 consecutive wins, Bubba Wallace fell victim to a spin caused by the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet on the second stage. Bowman was trying to clear the water with a broken windshield wiper, but misstepped on the exit of turn two, causing the No. 23 Toyota to spin. As a result, Wallace lost out in the second stage in 35th place, while the Hendrick Motorsports driver had a big lead in second place.
Bubba Wallace was not happy with Alex Bowman and expressed his dissatisfaction after his eighth Cup Series victory. During the cool-down lap, the 23XI Racing driver intentionally destroyed the right front of the HMS driver while the window net was down.
The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet apologized for destroying the Alabama native and even claimed that the post-race vandalism should not have been a punishment, but fans changed their views and criticized Wallace’s driving for potentially injuring someone. Freddie Kraft, seeing the criticism against his driver, defended Bubba Wallace and gave his own opinion on the incident. “I agree with Alex Bowman, there shouldn’t be any penalties. You can’t run your car into somebody who’s on the caution, especially on the cool-down lap.
Unfortunately for the people who want to get Bubba out of the sport for good, stuff like this happens every week,” Kraft said on Dirty Mo Media on X. “It happened twice yesterday. After the yellow flag came out, Chase Elliott got out his car and ran Daniel Suarez over. I didn’t see anybody crying,” Kraft said on Dirty Mo Media on X. Like Wallace, Chase Elliott also hit Daniel Suarez on the cool-down lap, leading to a devastating exchange between the two during the race.
“It was plenty deserved”- Alex Bowman after getting wrecked during the cooldown lap by Bubba Wallace
Alex Bowman explained how a chaotic restart and a broken windshield wiper caused Bubba Wallace’s #23 Toyota Camry to spin. The HMS rider started the race from the eighth position on the grid and worked his way up the leaderboard, finishing sixth in the first stage and second in the second. On lap 25, Bowman was not only caught up in a broken wiper, but all four tires on his #45 Toyota locked up, sending Bubba Wallace’s car skidding into the wall.
Nevertheless, the race continued, and Bowman chased down then-leader Joey Hand to take the lead. The #48 Chevrolet driver then passed the #60 Ford on lap 51 and sped off to Victory Lane without looking back. But before that, consecutive restarts reset the field, but the HMS driver never lost his advantage. After the race, Bowman reflected on the cause of his unpleasant encounter with Wallace: “The restart was chaotic. I made as many wrong decisions as possible, I was struggling to get the wiper switch working and I couldn’t get it to work.
I was so focused on that, I missed the corner and I passed him. I locked up all four tires and I ran into him. I just screwed up and totally ruined his day,” Bowman said of NASCAR. “He barely hit me. It was fine and it was totally natural,” the race winner added, defending Bubba Wallace’s post-race actions. Alex Bowman has secured a spot in the playoffs, while Bubba Wallace is currently 15th after finishing 13th at the Grand Park 165.
