Alex Bowman finished eighth at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, which would have been something to smile about on any other day. Alas, this result meant that the No. 48 Hendricks Motorsports driver was officially out of contention for the Cup Series Championship, something he was forced to address in the immediate aftermath of the outing.
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Bowman entered the weekend in a must-win mode, following lackluster showings at Darlington Raceway and the World Wide Technology Raceway, where he finished 31st and 26th, respectively. Compared to that, he did improve significantly. But it wasn’t enough.
The 32-year-old overcame a spin caused by Riley Herbst in Stage 1 and mounted a strong rally through the 500 laps. He led the scoring chart throughout Stage 2 and finished in third place. With 28 laps remaining, he came in for his final pit stop.
Bowman was able to make up two laps on the race leader, Brad Keselowski, and chose to stay out when a caution came with 12 laps left. The final restart of the day came with four laps remaining. This restart ultimately proved to be his undoing. With Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith occupying the front row, Bowman chose to restart on the outside of the second row.
A nudge from Keselowski when the green flag fell moved him to the high groove. This caused him to lose positions rapidly, and he ended the race in eighth place. He told the press, “I think we were out of tires. So, what are you going to do? Put old tires on again? There wasn’t really much I could have done, or we could have done.”
.@Alex_Bowman on his race after being eliminated from the Playoffs.
He says he had radio issues all night as well. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/P46Jyf6EeR
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) September 14, 2025
Bowman pointed out that he had been aware that things would be hard for him with old tires on the late restart. As understandable as that reasoning may be, it can no longer be denied that the driver is massively underperforming with the superior machinery he has been given. In fact, he hasn’t been seen in the last 8 since 2021, while his teammates have three appearances each.
For a Hendrick Motorsports driver to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs is a lowly outcome. Questions about his seat had already been looming in past years.
With this, all those doubts ought to be rushing back into the head of Mr. Rick Hendrick. If anything, this result could lead to Bowman being axed. The big question is who will take his seat.
