NASCAR has drawn flak for several reasons this year. What came most recently was their fining system, which is inconsistent, to say the least. After Kyle Busch spun out Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the latter let his fists fly, the higher-ups slapped him with a $75,000 penalty. Bubba Wallace got on the punitive radar after his Chicago rage. But the 23XI Racing driver is handling the setback well.

And Dale Earnhardt Jr. is all praise for his mature take. The retired Hall of Famer backed Bubba for accepting his fate, while also criticizing NASCAR for its hefty punishment. At the end of the day, one must take the hit and move on, as Wallace is doing.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. empathizes with Bubba

Being the only black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace is in a unique situation. He has faced several challenges in his climb to the top of the sport, including racial humiliation—his radio was hacked during the 2023 All-Star Race.

Yet the two-time Cup winner deals with such instances well, opening up about his mental struggles and achievements. After NASCAR slapped Wallace with a $50,000 fine for bumping into Alex Bowman during the Chicago Street Race, he resorted to his trusted technique of handling difficulty.

And Dale Earnhardt Jr. appreciated that on the July 16 episode of Dale Jr. Download. “We all probably have mental challenges and battles going on than we’d like to admit. But he’s been open about that…It seems like Bubba definitely does dwell on certain instances like this…and maybe makes it a bit larger in his mind than it is to the rest of us.”

Junior further agrees to seeing a reflection of himself in Bubba’s unique nature. While he accepts challenges, his wife, Amy, agrees and acknowledges the same. “And I can relate to that, my wife and I talk about that a lot. I have that same potential. So if something happens, we get into an argument, and I think the worst-case scenario…And she’s like, Hey, that was just an argument. That’s all that was.”

Bubba Wallace claimed to the press that the $50,000 fine was “the best thing that happened to him.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he gets that, as Wallace got the opportunity to revamp himself. “When he gets this fine, the media’s going to cover it…and he feels the way to that. He goes home, analyzes himself, and does a lot of reflecting.” 

Junior further patted Bubba on the back, toning down the level of his wrongdoing. “I would say to Bubba, Man it wasn’t that big of a deal…I can understand the emotion, you ran into him.” He focused on NASCAR’s questionable penalty tactics, and reiterated his earlier statement that a 50k fine was astronomical. “I thought 50 grand is excessive. NASCAR has their reasons, I don’t know what they were…But I was surprised by that, that was a large fine.” And indeed Wallace’s fine begs the question about NASCAR’s inconsistency in awarding penalties.

When similar situations did not attract the same punishment

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Bubba Wallace was fuming after Alex Bowman spun him on lap 25 of the Chicago race. So he steered his car next to Bowman’s on the cooldown lap and pushed him against the wall. Since Bowman’s window net was down and other safety adjustments were loose, fans deemed NASCAR’s hefty fine justified. Yet Chase Elliott also did a similar thing—he bumped into Daniel Suarez at the same time, yet did not draw a blink from the higher-ups.

If we leaf through the pages of history, a larger inconsistency will emerge. The 2014 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was a chaotic race. Emotions were all about the place, and the post-race fireworks were huge—all during the cooldown lap. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin traded paint, and then the former drove into both Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart on pit road. Stewart responded and reversed his No. 14 Chevy into Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford and smashed its front. Then Kenseth got into a physical altercation with his detractor.

The end result? NASCAR slapped Keselowski and Stewart with $50,000 and $25,000, respectively. In the meantime, Hamlin and Kenseth escaped without a scratch. The reasons produced show the gross inconsistency with Bubba Wallace’s fine. Hamlin’s extracurricular activity occurred during the cool-down lap, while Kenseth’s occurred outside the cockpit.

Evidently, NASCAR needs to make amends for its peculiar punitive system, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. agrees. Yet Bubba Wallace is handling the challenges well and, hopefully, will carve his way into the playoffs soon.