Calls for NASCAR Consistency in Wake of Elliott, Wallace Decisions

• Chase Elliott, who finished 21st, says Bubba Wallace shouldn’t have been fined for Wallace's incident at Chicago.

• Daniel Suarez says Elliott shouldn’t have been fined.

• As it turned out, Wallace was fined and Elliott wasn't penalized.

• Suarez says NASCAR needs to be consistent.

Since the Chicago Street Course race, NASCAR has been accused of favoritism by many fans for fining Bubba Wallace $50,000 for hitting Alex Bowman, but not assessing a penalty against Chase Elliott for hitting Daniel Suarez.

In NASCAR’s eyes, the incidents were different. Elliott and Suarez were racing on the last lap when their contact occurred, and Suarez said Elliott never got to him on the cool-down lap. Wallace’s Toyota hit Bowman’s Chevrolet hard enough to lift the car’s right front off the ground and put the left side into the wall on the cool-down lap.

Elliott, who finished 21st, says Wallace shouldn’t have been fined. Suarez, who placed 11th, says Elliott shouldn’t have been fined. However, Suarez notes NASCAR needs to be consistent.

“A lot of people have done similar things (like Wallace did) this year,” Suarez said. “The (No.) 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) did it in Richmond (when Truex hit Kyle Larson and race winner Denny Hamlin on the cool-down lap and didn’t get fined). In the past, we have seen it several times. If that’s going to be a fine, that’s fine, but it has to be consistent. I think NASCAR is trying their best to be consistent, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Elliott said after he learned that NASCAR had fined Wallace, he never thought he might get fined for his actions because “we barely rubbed doors.”

“I haven’t studied Bubba’s situation in great detail, but I personally view it from what I have seen, quite a bit differently,” Elliott said. “I understand, I mean, I get it, but man, you’re getting in the weeds with some of that stuff. Nobody was hurt. It was unfortunate. I guess just the circumstances and Alex having won the race and things of that nature, but I didn’t see it to be a huge deal.”

In recounting the last lap, Suarez said he passed Elliott and left him behind because he was faster.

“The only reason he caught me was because I was trying not to wreck the six (Brad Keselowski),” Suarez explained. “He was probably 10-car lengths behind, but the last lap I passed two cars that were slow, and I was trying to take my time passing these people because I knew I was going to pass them anyway. He (Elliott) caught me then and he pushed me into the 11 (Denny Hamlin) pretty hard toward the six (Keselowski).”

Suarez said SMT showed his and Keselowski’s brake pressure were “pretty much identical”, while Elliott had no brake pressure.

“We exited (turn) 11 and the nine (Elliott) and I were racing each other. There was only three-quarters of a lane dry,” Suarez said. “So, every time that … we were racing each other we had to have a tire or two in the wet area. I lost my reference, I locked a tire, and I ended up getting into the nine (Elliott) in corner 12. It wasn’t intentional, but it looked like it was because he hit me pretty hard the corner before toward the six (Keselowski).”

Suarez admitted that Elliott tried to hit him a few times under caution, but he never made contact.

“It’s a delicate situation,” Suarez continued. “So, what happens if I wasn’t paying attention and I was getting hit, he was gonna get fined? But just because I was paying attention and I didn’t get hit, he’s not gonna be fined? That’s a little bit tricky.”

Elliott and Suarez talked after the race and the Dawsonville, Ga., driver said he understood, and everything was fine between the two.

“It was difficult conditions for sure,” Elliott said. “I ruined our day by struggling so bad on that last set of wets (tires). So really, at the end of the day it’s nobody’s fault, but my own. I put us in a bad spot and unfortunate that happened in the last turn of the last lap to lose some spots. I genuinely don’t think he (Suarez) meant to turn me around. I had gotten into him in the previous corner. The six (Keselowski) kind of had us stacked up. I was expecting him to jump to the bottom and he didn’t.”