Alex Bowman entered the regular-season finale, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, clinging to the final playoff berth, 60 points clear of elimination. Both Bowman and Tyler Reddick came into the 160-lap showdown above the cutline without a victory.
Advertisement
Reddick’s night unraveled early when he tangled with Todd Gilliland off Turn 4 on Lap 18, leaving the No. 45 Toyota with front-end damage. Just a few laps later, Bowman found himself in the middle of Daytona chaos. A multi-car crash erupted entering the tri-oval on Lap 27 after a push from Kyle Larson sent Bubba Wallace right into Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
Racing three-wide on the frontstretch, the three cars came together, triggering a 12-car pileup that collected Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Noah Gragson.
Bowman had started on the front row but slipped back quickly, losing momentum in the low lane and falling to 30th by Lap 6. He had clawed his No. 48 Chevrolet back into 10th when disaster struck. The wreck was so extensive that officials red-flagged the race for over eight minutes to clean the track.
While parked in the work area, Bowman asked spotter Kevin Hamlin for a breakdown of the crash. He was told the cars crowded up ahead, and it appeared the push on the No. 23 Toyota turned Wallace sideways, leaving no room to escape. Kevin remarked that Bowman could point the finger at three people “like normal,” though Hamlin didn’t specify that the push came from Larson.
After being sidelined, Bowman was asked if he could have avoided the melee. “Being in front of it is really about all I could do, unfortunately. From where we were, there just really wasn’t any way to get around it. All of the hits just sort of compounded too much to be able to fix it,” he said.
Bowman lamented the outcome for his No. 48 Ally team, which had been building momentum in recent weeks. He admitted watching the rest of the race would be stressful, hoping no new winners emerged, but conceding that if someone did, they would have earned it. Despite being winless this year, Bowman emphasized the team’s strength, particularly since Michigan, calling it a fun stretch to be part of.
For Bowman, the crash felt entirely out of his control. He hated how poorly the first run unfolded, with the bottom lane collapsing behind him, but he had rallied back into the top 10. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.
