After winning the NASCAR Chicago Street Race over the weekend, Alex Bowman took some time to address an issue that had arisen during the race in his post-race interview.
In his postrace interview with NBC, he started by saying, “I have to apologize again to the 23 guys,” alluding to Bubba Wallace and his crew, the driver of vehicle number 23.
Wallace’s car spun out and struck the wall during the 25th lap of Sunday’s race after Bowman clipped it. Bowman’s victory halted an 80-race winless streak, while Wallace finished in 13th position.
But after Bowman’s win, something unexpected happened.
Wallace pulled up beside Bowman’s car on the cooldown lap and executed a move known as “door slamming,” hitting the door with his front-left tire as the vehicles neared drive 12 on the track and were getting ready to drive onto Columbus Drive.
Bowman went on to address the situation in victory lane.
“I simply made a mistake while attempting to turn on my windshield wiper, missing a corner and ruining their entire day.” I still feel ashamed about that, and I detest it,” Bowman remarked. Bowman allegedly persisted in defending Wallace after the initial interview, telling reporter Nate Ryan that he didn’t think Wallace should face consequences for the post-race punch.
Feeling a bit left behind? We’ll provide you with all the necessary Chicago news updates. Get the Chicago Catch-Up newsletter every week by subscribing here. “He barely hit me, everything was fine and it was plenty deserved,” Bowman stated. He added that he apologized to Wallace when there was a rain delay in the middle of the race.
In addition to being Bowman’s first victory in 80 races, the victory also punched his ticket into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bowman had not won a race since 2022.
In addition, he accomplished an amazing feat by winning the 2019 Cup Series championship race at Chicagoland Speedway. “We have a trophy to take home and I know it means a lot to this team,” Bowman stated. “I was positioned to win the race thanks to them.
And dude, we’ve been kind of bad ever since I hurt my back and had a brain damage. And you begin to wonder if you’ll ever get another chance to win a race—because we did so in the last one.”
