Kyle Petty Absolves Alex Bowman of ‘Choking’ Against Kyle Larson by Invoking the ‘Dale Earnhardt Effect’
Alex Bowman readily admits he “choked that one away, for sure” in this past Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. While he was disconsolate for leading the race late, only to get distracted and hit the wall when he saw teammate Kyle Larson closing fast, former NASCAR driver and current TV analyst Kyle Petty absolved Bowman from being so hard on himself.
“I refer to that in the days I used to race as the ‘(Dale) Earnhardt effect.’ You would see that 3 coming and he was in your head before he got there,” Petty said on the Performance Radio Network’s “Fast Talk” show about the late Dale Earnhardt.
He described how Earnhardt would intimidate drivers when they’d see him closing quickly in their rearview mirrors.
“And the thing is,” Petty continued, “Everybody talks about Larson rim-riding, riding the wall, riding the boards, getting it done, he’s the only guy that can do it. And you’re up there leading the race, and see that car coming, it’s already in your head.”
“So whether you choke or not, it’s that little bit of doubt, that little bit of ‘he is the best, he is coming, what do I do now?’”
Did Bowman Hear the Theme From ‘Jaws’ As Kyle Larson Closed In?
In a sense, Bowman may have subconsciously heard the theme song from the movie “Jaws” in his mind as Larson kept getting closer and closer, just like an attacking shark closing in for the kill.
“Just kind of burned my stuff up,” Bowman said. “(I) saw (Larson) coming, so I moved around a little bit … (when) I hit (the wall) with the right front and just bent something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel.
“And then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.”
Larson indeed passed his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and earned his first win of the 2025 season, while Bowman finished a close but disappointing second. It was the best finish for both drivers in the first six races of this season.
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