Even though Bubba Wallace is trying to turn over a new leaf, apologizing for his behavior over the past four years culminating with NASCAR fining him $50,000 this week for a retaliatory door slam into Alex Bowman after the Chicago Street Race, he did reveal one clapback he issued on Sunday night.
Wallace door slammed Bowman over an incident that happened between them earlier in the race. Bowman got into the corner too hard and wrecked the 23XI Racing Toyota. Bowman immediate took responsibility for the incident and tried to text Wallace during a rain delay in the middle of the race.
“The rain delay was just a lot of me sitting there being embarrassed and being mad at myself,” Bowman said after the race on Sunday. “He has every right to be mad; I’d be mad, too. I tried to call him during the rain delay and I shot him a text. Nothing I can do to make it better, and I’m sure us winning probably only makes it worse.”
Bowman went on to win the race and Wallace shoved him into the wall under caution. Wallace revealed on Saturday at Pocono Raceway what the text and its eventual response said.
“He texted me, ‘Hey man, sorry, immediately locked up.’ He didn’t mention anything about (windshield wiper) switch (issues) until he got on TV,” Wallace said. “He’s like, ‘If there’s any consolation, my shit’s destroyed too.’
“And I texted him after the race, ‘Yeah, real destroyed, nice job on the win.’
“So, we’re good.”
For what it’s worth, Bowman advocated that NASCAR not penalize him, not that it factored into the decision.
“Yeah, I’d do that, too,” Bowman said on Sunday. “I ruined his day. We had a really — the restart was chaotic. I just made every wrong decision I possibly could, and I was fighting with my windshield wiper switch trying to get the thing working and I couldn’t get it working and I was focused on that, missed the corner and cleaned him out. I locked all four tires up and slid right into him. I just messed up and absolutely ruined his day.
“I’m pretty hard on myself when I make mistakes like that, and I’ve been embarrassed about it since it happened.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.