The Chicago Street Race offered little room for error from a driver’s perspective. Narrow passing lanes and sharp turns have been one of the main reasons why the track shows potential for frequent contact. Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman were two drivers who experienced problems of this sort. At turn 11, a minor contact with the #11 car is what set off the series of unfortunate events for Alex.
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The duo was battling to gain an advantage in getting to the top 10 in the 41st lap. That is precisely when a minor chip to the rear end of Bowman’s #48 Camaro sent him spinning on the track and almost hit the wall. The spin led to Bowman losing essential places in the race and even losing a whole lap trying to recover from the spin. Following the incident, the 30-year-old has taken to Instagram to express his views on Hamlin‘s contact calling it a common occurrence in racing.
Alex Bowman had help from Denny Hamlin. 😬 #NASCARChicago | NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/4oUs2c1cGg
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 3, 2023
Unfortunate Alex Bowman reflects on the contact with Denny Hamlin
The Hendrick Motorsports driver had worse to endure due to that incident. The incident was the reason for the officials bringing out the fourth caution flag in Chicago. Despite that, Bowman had a chance to salvage some points from the race. But alas, his engine could not carry on with the race as the situation just got worse instead. In the 45th lap, his race came to an abrupt end as the car stopped and the hood caught fire. Track officials had to rush in to extinguish the fire that dashed Bowman’s hopes of continuing further.
Speaking about his run of bad luck in the race on his Instagram story, Bowman said, “ Got spun out. We had a fine day going. We were gonna end up on 11th in front of the top 10 and yeah I got spun out. Quite sure it sounded like Denny shot just the brakes up, missed the corner and I helped him make the corner. But somehow, that whole change broke something in the engine or something was already going wrong.”
Alex Bowman’s day went from bad to worse. #NASCARChicago pic.twitter.com/Iau8iJGDGN
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 3, 2023
Bowman then went on to appreciate Hendrick Motorsports’ engineering strategy and called the incident a part of racing as he said, “We blew up shortly after that so, big bummer. Don’t have engine failures from Hendrick Motorsports so this is number one for me.”
That was a good display of understanding and sportsmanship by Bowman despite enduring one of the worst races in his Cup Series career.
“Hamlin is a grade A bi***”: Hamlin gets slammed for intentionally wrecking Bowman
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The fandom was quick to react to this incident. Considering Denny’s previous callouts for suspensions on other drivers, the fans were particularly harsh on him for wrecking Bowman. Recalling Hamlin’s take after his incident with Chase Elliott in Coca-Cola 600, fans demanded a similar penalty for him.
“Denny Hamlin should be suspended he intentionally took out Alex Bowman” said one of the fans, showing no mercy on the JGR driver.
Denny Hamlin needs to be suspended next week for Right Rearing Alex Bowman! #NASCAR #ChicagoStreetRace
— CookedByTheHack🛞💨 (@Jax16Jags) July 3, 2023
Fans were not happy that Hamlin went unpunished for his action that ruined Bowman’s race. Although there were multiple other factors that contributed to it, one of the fans expressed his interest in not seeing Hamlin in Atalanta: “@NASCAR Denny Hamlin left hooked Alex Bowman. Suspend @dennyhamlin in Atlanta.”
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Denny Hamlin is a grade A bitch man. Drove right through Bowman there.
— Fig Buckstick (@C_Petitt) July 3, 2023
Some fans raised the topic of Hamlin being a crybaby when such situations arise against him as they said, “Suspend Cryin Denny Hamlin. He right reared Bowman!”.
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Safe to say this accident has left a bad taste in many of the fans’ minds. Quite right, knowing that if not for the engine failures, Bowman could have had a great chance at breaking into the top-10 in the race.
WATCH THIS STORY: Heartbroken Chase Elliott Admits Defeat Hours Ahead Of The Chicago Street Race