Why NASCAR's Alex Bowman doesn't really care Bubba Wallace threw Powerade in his face

Alex Bowman shared more thoughts about getting a drink thrown on him.

NASCAR driver Alex Bowman isn’t particularly bothered by getting a drink thrown in his face immediately following NASCAR’s most recent race last weekend, Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Or at least, that’s how he made it sound a few days after the race.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Friday, Bowman was asked about the post-race incident between him and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. After some contact and middle fingers during the race, Wallace afterward threw his Powerade at Bowman, who was sitting on the ground against his car while being treated for exhaustion and overheating.

Bowman — who finished second behind teammate Chase Elliott at Charlotte’s “roval” track and preserved his spot in the NASCAR playoffs in the first elimination race — said when asked if Wallace had privately apologized to him:

“He hasn’t, but I feel he kind of said what he had to say and got that out after the race. You know, I don’t think that was the end of the world. I don’t really think he did anything wrong there. So we all have emotions inside and outside of the race cars, and that stuff happens.”

At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bowman and Wallace made contact a couple times. First it was on Lap 1, which Bowman claimed responsibility for and said it “was just a mistake.”

After that, Bowman said Wallace flipped him off on multiple laps, and he eventually retaliated and made contact with Wallace in the No. 43 Chevrolet on purpose. Bowman in the No. 88 Chevrolet hit Wallace, who spun into the wall on Lap 42.

Well, 67 laps later when the race ended, Wallace, a non-playoff driver who finished 24th, found Bowman receiving medical attention, said a few heated things — or “nothing classy by any means,” as Bowman put it — and threw his bottle of Powerade on the ailing driver.

The drink also hit the doctor attending to Bowman and NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, who was also crouched in front of the No. 88 driver. If anyone deserves an apology here, it’s the doctor and Gordon, who were just collateral damage, driver Brad Keselowski suggested this week on FOX Sports.

NASCAR’s chief racing development officer, Steve O’Donnell, later said the governing body would be talking to Wallace about the incident — though oddly not talking to Bowman about intentionally wrecking Wallace — adding that when a driver is getting medical attention, Wallace needed “to be smarter than that.”

This weekend, NASCAR is at Dover International Speedway for Drydene 400, which is the first race of the second round of the playoffs.

The original 16-driver playoff field was cut by four after the first of 10 total playoff races for the Round of 12, which has three races before the list of title contenders shrinks again to eight and eventually the final Championship 4.