The NASCAR Cup race at Bristol did not go the way Alex Bowman had hoped, and ended in an awkward crash with the leaders that left him feeling embarrassed.
The moment in question took place with 70 laps to go. Alex Bowman was running 20th, already off the lead lap, and in danger of going another lap down. As Ty Gibbs took the lead from Carson Hocevar, he tried to go up the middle between the slower cars of Bowman and Cole Custer.
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Bowman was completely unaware that the car directly behind him — and now beside him, was the race leader. Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet came up the track, squeezing Gibbs into Custer. Bowman was the only one to spin in the contact, suffering race-ending damage while Gibbs escaped with relatively minor damage.
Outside of the infield care center, Bowman explained in a video captured by FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass.
“I didn’t understand that we were racing the leaders or I would have gotten the f*** out of the way,” said Bowman, clearly frustrated. “It’s just embarrassing to do that. We’re trying to make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t. Just had a really crappy day. Fought with the race car a lot. Kind of swung at it, just trying to pass guys in front of me.
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“I didn’t understand that the leaders were there, or I would have just gotten out of the way … I don’t want to affect those guys’ days. That’s the last thing I want to do on the day that we’re struggling, is do something stupid like that. So, embarrassed on my behalf. By the time I realized we were three wide, the car is taking up up the track and just slipped around. It seems like I only crashed myself, so hopefully those guys don’t have damage.
Now, for some context. This incident followed a chaotic caution period in the middle of a green-flag pit cycle. There were only two cars on the lead lap before wave-arounds, and the entire field was jumbled up, leaving Bowman in the dark over who was actually in control of the race.
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“I didn’t know who was leading the race,” Bowman said again. “We had a really chaotic caution. Like a normal caution, you kind of know who’s leading the race and stuff. But we had run out of fuel coming to that caution. So it was kind of chaotic. I never got a chance to look up at the monitor and see who was leading the race. I don’t know, I heard the leader has a big lead and they’re into (Turn) 3, and they were catching us really quick to go and pass the guys in front of us. That’s what I was trying to do.
“I don’t know if Ty was leading or if 77 [Hocevar] was leading at that point or who it was. But I just didn’t put two and two together. Trying to pass the guys in front of us. If I would have known, I would have just gotten the hell out of the way.”
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