In a highly competitive sport like NASCAR, what hurts even more than a DNF or a DQ is, perhaps, a runner-up position. Alex Bowman was at the receiving end of that sting at Daytona, where he was merely a fraction of a second behind his teammate, William Byron, who bagged his first win of the season.
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However, when he admitted that it was just a part of life and moved on, the fans got a glimpse at his champion mentality. It indeed is not wise to wallow in sadness when one can gear up and prepare for the upcoming race. Bowman said, “It definitely stings a little bit to be that close. Like, a guy pushes a button a tenth of a second later and you get a trophy, but that’s just life.”
The #48 driver found solace in the fact that it was a great start for him, as well as for Hendrick Motorsports. “It was disappointing (but) at the same time it was a good start to the year, right? Little bit of both,” said the Chevy star. “Last year we finished 5th or 6th; was probably a little happier about that than second, with how close I was.”
Bowman wasn’t aware of how he had triggered the ‘big one’
Bowman was nosing his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in an attempt to stay in the draft but as Byron lost control on the backstretch with just nine laps till the checkered flag, the #24 machine veered close to Brad Keselowski’s Mustang and wrecked the entire field, which involved nearly twenty cars.
It can be said that it was due to Bowman bump-drafting his teammate that the latter turned into the RFK Racing owner. However, Bowman had no idea that he was the one to trigger the entire crash. “I can’t even see far enough to see that Byron hitting Keselowski is what started it,” Bowman admitted. “I knew I had William in a spot that I didn’t want to have him in. But we’re all just sort of sandwiched up there.”
“I was lifting to try to get off him once he was aimed the wrong place. But we’re all just shoving each other. That’s what speedway racing has kind of become. If it’s my fault, I didn’t mean to crash anybody by any means,” he added apologetically.
Nevertheless, the biggest benefactors of the 23-car pile-up were Byron and Bowman, the pair of Hendrick Motorsports drivers who finished 1-2 on Monday. Like Bowman said, it was indeed “a good start for Hendrick Motorsports.”
