Denny Hamlin claims Alex Bowman is taking “the high road” by defending Bubba Wallace over cool-down lap clash

The NASCAR Cup Series Race at Chicago saw a post-race drama involving Bubba Wallace and race winner Alex Bowman. The 23XI Racing driver door slammed the No:48 Chevy during the cool-down lap while the latter was celebrating the win. It was a dangerous move as the HMS driver’s safety net was down when they made contact.

Bubba Wallace was taking revenge for an early race incident involving the two. Alex Bowman made a mistake and missed the corner before the rain delay. He made contact with the No:23 Toyota and ended up ruining the race them. Bowman apologized for the incident multiple time and spoke against call for penalty against the 23XI driver for the incident.

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin in his podcast discussed how Bowman came in for Wallace’s defence and why is he doing it. He asserted that the HMS driver is taking the high road as he feels good about the victory and is also repaying for the mistake that ruined the race for Bubba Wallace with his comments.

I think Bowman’s taking the high road there. He’s feeling good [after winning] and I think he’s taking the high road there knowing that he made the mistake early on and he’s trying to repay that mistake through comments in the media. That would be my feeling and gut on it.

Denny Hamlin said via Action Detrimental.

Denny Hamlin asserts Bubba Wallace-Carson Hocevar incident isn’t the same

The JGR boss also talked about the comparison made by the fans about the Wallace incident being the same as that of Carson Hocevar wrecking Harrison Burton under caution. The Spire Motorsports driver was fined $50,000 for the incident. Denny Hamlin asserted that Wallace doesn’t deserve the same penalty as it isn’t an offence on the same level.

There’s not a drivers safety issue. So, I don’t know how they’ll view it and the other also is that Carson spun someone under yellow and it cost them positions and damage to their car. So, that hurt Harrison Burton for the rest of the race. This was the race is over, he took a swipe at Bowman, and I think Bowman underplayed it a little bit in the media.

Denny Hamlin said.

The veteran driver though is expecting a penalty for his racer, doesn’t think it would be as severe as the one given to the Spire driver. It would be interesting to see how NASCAR would approach the situation in the weekend’s penalty report.

In case you missed it:

• Kenny Wallace claims Bubba Wallace in “some trouble” over door slamming Alex Bowman post-race at Chicago

• WATCH: Kyle Larson slams into the tier barrier in Chicago Street Race

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