Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not entirely accept the argument from NASCAR officials over why Bubba Wallace was fined $50,000 for door slamming Alex Bowman into the wall after the race on the Streets of Chicago.
He issued the following argument on Tuesday during an episode of his Dale Jr Download podcast on Dirty Mo Media.
“This got more attention than Chase [Elliott] and yes, Chase’s deal was not as egregious,” Earnhardt said. “… They’re saying Bubba hits Alex and Alex hits the wall, Okay. We are at a street course, there’s freaking walls everywhere. That oughta be in consideration here. But he had his window net down and his belts off or loose? Wait a minute, I’m driving around the racetrack with my belts off? … Do you fucking undo your belts when you’re cooling down when you’re driving? Do you pull in the driveway and just pop that belt and cruise on into the garage?
“… Let me tell ya something, that ain’t Bubba’s responsibility. That ain’t. And so, you can’t smack Bubba’s hand for Bowman having his belts loose. I can go to Bubba and say, ‘Hey, man, you know next time, he might have his belts loose. Let’s not do that.’ But I go to Bowman, ‘What the hell do you have your belts loose?’ If that’s even true, that’s hearsay. I’m hearing people say he had his window down and his belts loose or his belts off. I just can’t even believe that he would have that on a cool down lap. He’s still in the car moving.”
Earnhardt also made the argument the week before, before the penalty was announced, that NASCAR needed to be lenient over post-race door slamming incidents and that he as a driver appreciated being able to send messages this way during his career.
Ultimately, Earnhardt suggested Wallace shake it off
“I would say to Bubba, ‘Man it wasn’t that big of a deal,’” Earnhardt said. “I would just say to Bubba, ‘Hey, I can understand the emotion, you ran into him.’ A lot of us didn’t think it should have been a fine. …I thought 50 grand was excessive. NASCAR has their reasons, I don’t know what they were. I was surprised by that. That was a large fine.
“Put it in the rearview mirror. Make the personal adjustments, but don’t have another thought about it. Maybe in this situation next time he does it differently, great. But otherwise, I think it’s not that big of an issue.”
For his part, Wallace said the fine was the most important thing to happen to him in a long time, and that it forced him to reflect and apologize for his behavior over the past several years.
That resonated with Earnhardt too.
“Bubba has shared with us here in this room and everyone else his challenges with his emotions and his mental state of mind,” Earnhardt said. “I appreciate being open about that. We all probably have more mental challenges and battles going on than we like to admit. But he’s been open about that, and it seems like Bubba definitely does dwell on certain instances like this and maybe makes it a bit larger in his own mind than it is to the rest of us.”
