(Video) “He Kind of Did It to Himself!” Alex Bowman Dumps Bubba Wallace During Wild Duel at Chicago

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman was involved in a wild wreck following an aggressive lap at Chicago.

(Video) “He Kind of Did It to Himself!” Alex Bowman Dumps Bubba Wallace During Wild Duel at Chicago

Alex Bowman dumps Bubba Wallace (Via IMAGO and @NASCAR/X)

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The NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicago Street was wild with multiple drivers going hard on each other. The defending race winner Alex Bowman caused some big incident while Shane van Gisbergen produced a clinical to secure his second win of 2025.  One of the highlights of the race day was the aggressive between Bowman and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace.

Both the drivers started at the back of the grid, owing to their crashes in the practice session and unapproved changes made to the car. They were also going up against each other in the in-season bracket challenge for $1 million, starting a fake beef that became real once the race got underway. The incident happened during a wild lap, earning a P28 finish to Bubba Wallace.

The No:23 Toyota Camry started the wild run, as he made multiple contacts with the No:48 Chevy, causing him to lose balance in the fight for top 10 finish, and later Wallace even slammed him into the wall. That left Alex Bowman furious, and he didn’t hold back, as hit the 23XI Racing car from the back and spun him out, ending the duel for good. He then went onto finish the race on P8, getting close to $1 reward.

While the incident not only cost Bubba Wallace the bracket challenge, but has also reduced his points just +2 from the cut-line, ruining his chances of making it into the last 16 on points now.  Talking about the incident after the race, Bowman didn’t hesitate to share his frustrating and asserted that it was Wallace who caused the whole drama.

I’d have to watch it back to be certain, but I felt like he kind of did it to himself because I kept getting pinballed between him and the outside wall. Wasn’t the intention, but I don’t know — we had way fresher tires than him.

Alex Bowman told Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

The veteran didn’t want to dumb a racer that he sees as a good friend off the track, but when it comes to racing relationships doesn’t matter. Though he knows the in-season tournament played a role in the wild duel, it shouldn’t have had this much impact and admits it unfortunate the NO:23 team’s race ended that way.

I get the In-Season tournament is a lot, but at that point, I’m just trying to finish the best I can. I wasn’t really thinking about that. Don’t know if that’s what it was about or what, but unfortunate that it happened. It tore up our car a bunch and killed his day.

Alex Bowman added.

Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace talked it out after the race

After the race, both Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman talked to each other. Unlike what many expected after the wild duel, the drivers were calm and was smiling at each other. They seem have left their beef at the track is okay with how the dule played out. Showing the mutual respect, they have for each other. Bubba Wallace post-race event admitted that they squashed beef.

Bubba Wallace
Bubba Wallace (Via Motorcyclesports.net)

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.

Bubba Wallace told NASCAR.com.

The TRD driver now has to look at himself and his team, in order to form a strategy for their remaining races of the regular season with a race win as well as maximization of points being their primary targets. They can’t go on like this, making mistakes and expect getting into post-season. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for Bubba Wallace and team.

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