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Freddie Kraft breaks down what went wrong between Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman at Chicago
Nigel Cook/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Much went wrong for Bubba Wallace in Sunday’s Chicago Street Race. Early in the race, it was an incident with Kyle Larson that sent him spinning. Late in the race, contact with Alex Bowman sent him around again.

Freddie Kraft, Wallace’s spotter, said on Monday’s “Door Bumper Clear” podcast that from where he was at in the spotter stand, he could not help Wallace much while he was beating and banging with Bowman for nearly an entire lap. He said that Bowman did not right rear hook him, but rather Wallace “got himself turned around” exiting Turn 2 on Lap 70.

“We were the ones on old tires, and we were hanging on,” Kraft said. “[Tyler] Reddick got there, got underneath us in [Turn] 7 and kind of opened the door. Alex followed him through, and we kind of door slammed through 7. Bubba turned early and ran him into the fence in 11. Alex got by, we kind of moved him into 12 and ran him into the wall off of 12. Alex moved us back into 1 and then we almost got clear — Bubba I think thought he was clear; there was no spotter over there and I was trying to help out the best I could off the television, but you can’t really spot off the TV because it’s a couple seconds delay.

“I just think Bubba thought he was clear and moved up. Alex did not right hook us — I saw some people talking about that. Bubba just kind of cleared himself on Alex and got himself turned around. Frustrating, for sure.”

Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman talk it out after contact in downtown Chicago

At the time, Wallace was on older tires than Bowman. The two were also matched up against each other in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. Wallace did everything he could to hold off Bowman, but to no avail.

Bowman finished eighth, Wallace P28. Bowman addressed the incident immediately after the race and said that from his perspective, “felt like he kind of did it to himself.” He then spoke to Wallace, and cooler heads prevailed.

“I wish I would have talked to him before all my interviews, because I did all the interviews under the context that he thought I right-reared him and just crashed him,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “And then I talked to him, and he thought I was crossing him over and he was clear outside. Spotters can’t see over there, and I was just outside of him, and he moved up. And I hate to say he did it to himself, but he did it to himself, and that’s what he was saying, like he thought I was crossing over.

“So yeah, I hate that I did a bunch of interviews like, ‘What the hell, man?’ But yeah, I’m sure he’s not happy that he got crashed, but at the same time, like I’m between him and the fence. There’s not so much you can do.”

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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