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Kyle Petty Absolves Alex Bowman of ‘Choking’ Against Kyle Larson by Invoking the ‘Dale Earnhardt Effect’

Jerry Bonkowski
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Alex Bowman (L), Kyle Petty (C) and Kyle Larson (R)

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.

Post Edited By:Srijan Mandal

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

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Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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