Denny Hamlin wishes Bubba Wallace hadn't 'played grabass' in Chicago

Denny Hamlin would have preferred that Bubba Wallace steered clear of the dramatics on Sunday at the Grant Park Street Course.

First came some late clears, racing vernacular for a tight pass, some trading of paint, all which concluded with Bowman sending Wallace for a spin in Turn 2 with five laps left to go. It cost Wallace a spot in the top-10 and some much-needed points in the race to make the playoffs.

It's getting physical in this In-Season Challenge matchup between @BubbaWallace and @Alex_Bowman! 💥 pic.twitter.com/fQb9EpTKD9

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2025

The two drivers talked it out after the race but Hamlin, who owns the No. 23 piloted by Wallace, wishes it hadn’t gotten to that point in the first place.

Read more: Everything that happened in the race

“Would have liked to see the No. 23 team get to the finish line with a good finish. They bounced back from a very tough start of the race," Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. "… They were just playing grabass with the 48 [Bowman] and ended up getting the bad end of it,” Hamlin said. “If you’re the 48, I tried everything I could, I’m looking and watching the replay and I’m like, ‘The 48 — I just don’t understand what he did wrong there.’ He got pinched into the wall off of [Turn] 12, his bump into Bubba into 1 wasn’t egregious or anything, wasn’t square in the back, it was kind of left rear.

“At that time, Bubba’s on older tires, the 48 is on newer tires. You’re just not going to hold that back in six laps. It’s impossible. We saw the speed difference between new and old tires. You gotta just let it go. You gotta let him go. Get your day that you need, and it sucks because they are paired up in that challenge, so did that play a factor in how aggressive Bubba was trying to stay ahead of him? Possibly, but to me, I thought when I looked at it… I just don’t know how many options the 48 had. He just got pinched into the wall a lot.”

To his point, they were matched-up in the In Season Challenge but whatever factored in Wallace driving so aggressively, the end result was losing enough grand that he has just a three point advantage in the race to make the playoffs over Ryan Preece.

Does Hamlin need to say anything as owner to make that point clear to Wallace?

“No, I think Bubba understands it,” Denny Hamlin said. “I think that’s why you saw him have the reaction that he did. I think that’s why he made the comments that he did. It seemed as though he took responsibility for it, and that he wasn’t clear when he tried to clear himself. I think he handled it fine.”