Denny Hamlin SLAMS Bubba Wallace for “Playing Graba**” With Alex Bowman at Chicago

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicago this Sunday was wild, as it featuring a multi-car pile-up, mega wrecks and aggressive duels between the drivers. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman were the drivers that were involved in the most dramatic duel of the day, that significantly impacted the $1 million in-season tournament. Now 23XI boss Denny Hamlin has addressed the drama.

Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman got into a duel while fighting for top 10 midway to the race. They bumped into each other multiple times, with the 23XI Racing driver being the initial aggressor as he sent the HMS Chevy to the wall. In retaliation, the No:48 driver spun the No:23 Toyota out, and went onto to finish P8, while the latter who lost position was able to salvage just a P28.  

In the latest episode of his podcast, Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on the dramatic duel and didn’t hesitate to call out his driver. He admitted that playing graba*s with Alex Bowan resulted in the team losing the opportunity to secure a good finish. They lost some valuable points, resulting in them finding just two points off from the playoff cut-off.

Would have liked to see the No. 23 team get to the finish line with a good finish. They bounced back from a very tough start of the race. … They were just playing graba*s with the 48 [Bowman] and ended up getting the bad end of it.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

Further talking about the topic, he assessed how the situation played out and who is blame for the whole drama. He pointed out that Bubba Wallace pinched Alex Bowman into the wall during the battle. Though some claims it was in retaliation for their run in early in the race, the No:11 Camry drivers aren’t buying it as he understands that turn 1 incident wasn’t as egregious.

If you’re the 48, I tried everything I could, I’m looking and watching the replay and I’m like, ‘The 48 — I just don’t understand what he did wrong there.’ He got pinched into the wall off of [Turn] 12, his bump into Bubba into 1 wasn’t egregious or anything, wasn’t square in the back, it was kind of left rear.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin admits Alex Bowman had no option but to dump Bubba Wallace

There was nothing Alex Bowman could have done that being aggressive at that moment, considering the HMS driver had the new tire advantage. The speed difference was impossible for Wallace to handle and at that moment he should have raced his race, by letting the Chevy pass.

At that time, Bubba’s on older tires, the 48 is on newer tires. You’re just not going to hold that back in six laps. It’s impossible. We saw the speed difference between new and old tires. You gotta just let it go. You gotta let him go.

Denny Hamlin said.

He also admitted that the duo being in the same bracket for the in-season tournament meant the situation was more heated than it should have been. Despite Wallace being his driver, Hamlin asserted that Alex Bowman was right to make the move that spun the Toyota out.

Get your day that you need, and it sucks because they are paired up in that challenge, so did that play a factor in how aggressive Bubba was trying to stay ahead of him? Possibly, but to me, I thought when I looked at it… I just don’t know how many options the 48 had. He just got pinched into the wall a lot.

Denny Hamlin added.

If Bubba Wallace thought the situation through, and let Bowman pass, he could have secured a top-10 finish like his teammate Tyler Reddick and boss Denny Hamlin. Now he has found himself close to missing out on playoff, putting him in a must win situation.

Also Read: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sends a Chilling Warning to Connor Zilisch over Aggressive Racing at Chicago