Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman collide in Chicago scrap; cooler heads prevail

CHICAGO – A key In-Season Challenge matchup between old rivals ended in contact Sunday in the Chicago Street Race, with Bubba Wallace getting the short end of a tightly fought contest with Alex Bowman inside the top 10. The two drivers sorted it out with a post-race chat on the passageway to the NASCAR Cup Series garage area, stopping in front of a boisterous group of fans, who had a front-row seat for the talk as they left the Grant Park grounds. That brief conversation, though, left Bowman with a different impression than his first hunch, that their rivalry had been stoked anew. The duo collided multiple times in a fierce fight for seventh place late in the Grant Park 165. Bowman, the No. 8 seed in the bracket-style tournament, was charging forward with a bit of an advantage, riding on fresher tires than the No. 9-seeded Wallace had. MORE: Race results | At-track photos Bowman made contact with Wallace from behind exiting Turn 2 at Lap 70 in the 75-lap affair, spinning Wallace down DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Bowman – the 2024 Chicago race winner – continued to an eighth-place finish, but Wallace's No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota suffered a broken toe link in the incident and was saddled with a 28th-place result, five laps down. Both appeared in a pre-race interview Sunday with TNT Sports to joke about their past incidents together ahead of their In-Season Challenge head-to-head matchup. Bowman moved on to the Round of 8, while Wallace was eliminated. After exiting his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Bowman initially said he thought the rivalry pendulum had swung back to the antagonistic side. "I thought we had squashed our beef, but clearly we’ve not," Bowman initially told reporters post-race. “I don't know. I followed the 45 (Tyler Reddick) past him. He ran me into the inside wall in (Turn) 8. Still felt like I passed him clean, then he absolutely just demolished me into (Turn) 12. I gave it back a little bit into 1, and then he demolished me again into 2, ran me into the outside wall and then I’m just a pinball between him and the outside wall at that point. "So certainly not trying to crash anybody. I mean, I’d have to watch it back to be certain, but I felt like he did it to himself because I kept pinballing between him and the outside wall. So yeah, wasn’t the intention." That tune changed after his conversation with Wallace, who had just left the track's care center for an evaluation. WATCH: Bowman, Wallace in spirited discussion on pit road "I wish I would have talked to him before all my interviews, because I did all the interviews under the context that he thought I right-reared him and just crashed him," Bowman told NASCAR.com outside the No. 48 hauler. "And then I talked to him, and he thought I was crossing him over and he was clear outside. Spotters can't see over there, and I was just outside of him, and he moved up. And I hate to say he did it to himself, but he did it to himself, and that's what he was saying, like he thought I was crossing over. "So yeah, I hate that I did a bunch of interviews like, 'what the hell, man?' But yeah, I'm sure he's not happy that he got crashed, but at the same time, like I'm between him and the fence. There's not so much you can do." The two drivers had a run-in during last year’s street race as well, with Wallace turned sideways off the nose of Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet early in the 2024 contest. Wallace recovered to finish 13th while Bowman surged to the victory, and Wallace initiated contact with Bowman’s door on the cooldown lap, drawing a $50,000 fine from NASCAR days later. RELATED: See 2024 dustup between Bowman, Wallace It was an adventure-filled day for Wallace, who dropped to the rear of the field for the start of Sunday's race after incidents in Saturday's qualifying session. He made it up to 18th at the end of Stage 1, but his No. 23 entry was sent spinning after contact with the No. 5 Chevy of Kyle Larson on Lap 25, knocking him back to 32nd in the running order. Wallace rallied and netted fifth place at the end of Stage 2, residing in the top 10 when his contest with Bowman came to a head on Chicago's cozy street layout. "I'm just proud of the effort," Wallace told NASCAR.com outside the care center. "You know, late call on the 5 that got us spun. Hated that. Just when you think everything's going OK, but we were able to jump ship and switch up plans, put us right back in the race. So man, I was passing cars, having fun, showing that we keep improving and keep building confidence. We'll be fine. So hate to see it end that way. It was fun. Fun with the 48. No love lost, all good." Bowman had also fought his way back up through the field in his defense of last year's Chicago Street Race victory and in his quest for a win that would solidify his Cup Series Playoffs footing. The No. 48 also dropped to the rear after issues in Saturday's preliminaries, and he was one spot in front of Wallace in fourth at the Stage 2 break. Bowman emerged with a measure of continued momentum, posting his fourth consecutive finish of 11th or better. He also left Chicago with a better grasp of how the decisive late-race clash played out. "Yeah, I feel better now understanding what happened there," Bowman told NASCAR.com. "Yeah, lots of ups and downs, and it was a fight. It's a standard 48 day. We fought hard and glad it worked out there in the end." Contributing: Staff reports