Tensions between two well-known drivers reached a boiling point this weekend when on-track incidents ended in an off-track confrontation that has sparked a frenzy online.
Alex Bowman, who runs the #88 Nationwide car for Hendrick Motorsports, intentionally turned racer Bubba Wallace after he says, Bubba was flipping him off at every chance he got.
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@AlexBowman88 is not happy with @BubbaWallace. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ONAWY8KOun
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 29, 2019
“I don’t know if he was mad about the first lap or what but obviously, that was just a mistake,” Bowman told NASCAR. “Then I got flipped over for every single straightaway for three laps. I got flipped off by him for three or four laps in Richmond so I was just over it. I gotta stand up for myself at some point, right? Probably wouldn’t have gotten wrecked if he had his finger back in the car.”
Bowman was not having it anymore and decided to nudge Wallace into a spin that sent him straight into the wall.
"If he doesn't put that finger away, he's gonna get it."
Alex Bowman wasn't happy with an alleged gesture Bubba Wallace gave him, and turned him around at the @CLTMotorSpdwy ROVAL. Watch on @NBC: https://t.co/SZcgVmdGHa pic.twitter.com/fpHSEONbXD
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 29, 2019
Next thing you know, Bowman is being treated by medics outside his car, and Wallace comes straight up and throws Gatorade in his face after exchanging some fiery words.
“He don’t like to race. He just runs over everybody,” NASCAR reports Wallace told them when he left the track. “He gets to Lap 1 and he runs over me and the 3 (Austin Dillon) into the back chicane. We’re back there in the trunk, man. Just take it easy for a lap. He had a fast car and he just run over us. Shoot us through the chicane and then we get a penalty for it. Every time he gets to me, he just runs over me.
No word on why Bowman was being attended to by medics, but apparently Wallace thought it was all a ruse.
“Smooth move of playing the sick card so I couldn’t bust him in his mouth.”
"When a driver is being tended to by medical personnel, you need to be smarter than that" @NASCAR's @odsteve told #TMDNASCAR he will be having a conversation with @BubbaWallace this week pic.twitter.com/UWXcxtL01n
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) September 30, 2019
Check out the full clip below.Â