There was a lot of talk about double standards or a lack of standards over the penalties that were or were not handed out by NASCAR earlier in the week.
There was a lot that happened after the checkered flag on Sunday following the conclusion of the Chicago Street Race. Wallace retaliated on winner Alex Bowman for something that transpired between them earlier in the race. Elliott kind of did the same to Suarez.
Wallace received a $50,000 fine and Elliott was not issued any sort of penalty. NASCAR officials have yet to comment publicly on the matter.
The difference is that Wallace squeezed Bowman into the wall, lifting his car off the ground with the impact while Elliott issued (maybe) a glancing blow to Suarez.
Whatever conclusion NASCAR reached in drawing a distinction between the two didn’t totally make sense to Suarez.
First, what happened between Elliott and Suarez? They were racing each other on the final lap, hard, on a track that had only one dry lane and they both got stacked up behind Brad Keselowski.
“There was only three quarters of a lane dry,” Suarez said. “So everytime (Elliott) and I were racing each other, we had to have a tire or two in the wet area and that’s what happened. I lost my reference and locked my tires and ended up getting into (Elliott) in corner 12. It wasn’t intentional but it looked like it was because he hit me pretty hard in the corner before.”
Suarez said he understood why Elliott tried to door slam him, even justifying it, but doesn’t understand why it’s not a penalty if Wallace was fined $50,000 for the intent of what he did to Bowman.
“He was right to hit me under caution but he never made contact,” Suarez said. “It’s a delicate situation because what happens if I wasn’t paying attention and I did get hit? Was he going to get fined. I’m good because I was paying attention and didn’t get hit so he’s not getting a fine. That’s a little bit tricky.
“I think it’s a very big penalty, $50,000 for hitting somebody. I’m not saying Chase should have been fined. He shouldn’t have but it’s a big fine. A lot of people have done similar things this year. (Martin Truex Jr.) did it at Richmond. If that’s going to be a fine, it has to be consistent and NASCAR is trying its best to be consistent but we’re not there yet.”
Elliott said he and Suarez talked after the race and reached a common ground on the track conditions. There was agreement that ‘I barely touched his door, yeah,’ said Elliott.
Elliott also said that wasn’t enough to warrant a fine.
“I didn’t think about it all week because we barely rubbed doors,” Elliott said. “At the very best, that’s all the contact we made. I haven’t studied the situation in great detail but I personally view it from what I have seen, quite a bit differently in my opinion.”
With that said, Elliott doesn’t think Wallace warranted a fine either.
“I don’t think he should have been fined,” Elliott said. “I understand. I get it. But you’re getting in the weeds with some of that stuff. Nobody was hurt. It was unfortunate I guess just the circumstances but I didn’t see it to be a huge deal.”
Denny Hamlin, who co-owns the car driven by Bubba Wallace, says NASCAR felt more compelled to act only because that incident was caught on live TV and became a social media talking point.
All in all, it’s a judgment call and that’s the explanation that they gave the team,” Hamlin said. “It’s a judgment call. More than likely, we’ve seen these things happen in other sports where the camera’s on you live, not a cutaway where you’d say ‘oh, by the way, this happened after the checkered,’ I think it being live and everyone seeing it, probably caused a little more of a social media uproar which then they responded to that. I think from the team’s standpoint, I don’t believe there will be any appeals. It’s a learning moment you try not to repeat.”
But again, something similar happens every week, he argued.
“Again, it’s based on circumstances of it being on live TV, making it different,” Hamlin said.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined $75,000 for punching Kyle Busch after the All Star Race.
Was that $25,000 more egregious than what Wallace did?
“I can’t even begin to understand what their thinking is,” Stenhouse said with a laugh on Saturday.
For his part, Bowman echoed what he said after the race on Sunday, taking responsibility for what happened between them earlier in the raceand wishing NASCAR hadn’t issued a fine.
“I don’t think it was terrible from my end from where I sat and I certainly understood why he was mad at me,” Bowman said. “But it’s NASCAR’s decision to do whatever they feel they need to do. I feel like that sort of thing happens more often than TV cameras ever catch it but it’s one of those deals.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.