Alex Bowman is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not competing in the Chase. In a season where Bowman did not think it could go worse, it somehow has, and his performance on a bright night under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway is one he would hope to forget as soon as he can. 

Bowman had a DNF for the 5th time this season, and it all happened while he was clueless as to whom he was racing on track. Bowman spoke to Bob Pockrass after his race ended about a night he believes he ruined for himself. 

“Didn’t understand how we’re racing the leaders, or I would have gotten the f*** out of the way,” said Bowman. “Like it’s just embarrassing to do that. We’re trying to make chicken salad out of chicken s***. Just had a really crappy day and fought with the race car a lot and kind of swung at it. Yeah, I’m just trying to pass guys in front of me. And didn’t understand that the leaders were there, or I’d just gotten out of the way.”

“That’s the last thing I want to deal with on a day that we’re struggling; it’s just stupid like that,” Bowman added. “So embarrassed on my behalf. Just by the time I realized we were three-wide, I’m like cranked left and cars taken off the track and sucked around. So glad it seems like I only crashed myself. Hopefully those guys don’t have damage. I don’t really know.”

Bowman was relieved that he didn’t end up affecting the race in any way by taking out either Ty Gibbs or Carson Hocevar, who were battling for the win, although neither would eventually go on to win the race. 

It all went down on Lap 431. Cole Custer and Alex Bowman were racing for position, with Custer in his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet on the outside and Bowman’s No. 48 HMS Chevy on the inside line, with the leaders coming up from behind to lap the backmarkers. 

Ty Gibbs, who was running a special M&M’s livery on his No. 54 JGR Toyota to pay tribute to Kyle Busch as his family, was in the lead of the race. Gibbs saw an opening going into the front stretch with Hocevar on his tail, struggling to clear traffic. Gibbs’ opening was right in between the No. 41 and No. 48, but the moment he made it three-wide going past the start-finish line, Bowman came up from the inside while Custer held his line. 

Bowman pressed up against Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota and lost his car, spinning down the track with Hocevar, who was right behind the incident, managing to steer clear of any contact. Bowman’s race ended immediately, and Gibbs’ question over the radio was, “What is his spotter doing?”

A fair question to ask as the race leader trying to clear lapped traffic. But Bowman was clearly unaware of who was coming up behind him. He revealed he was tackling other issues in that moment. 

“I didn’t know who was leading the race,” said Bowman. “We had a really chaotic caution, like a normal caution you kind of know who’s leading the race and stuff, but we had run out of fuel coming to that caution. So it was kind of chaotic. I never got a chance to, like, look up at the monitor and see it was leading the race. 

“I heard the leader has a big lead, and they’re into three, and they were catching us really quick and to go and pass guys in front of us, and that’s what I was trying to do,” Bowman added. “Yeah, I don’t know if Ty was leading or the 77 was leading at that point or who was, but yeah, I just didn’t put two and two together, trying to pass the guys in front of us. And yeah, if I had known, I would have just gotten heck out of the way.”

While Bowman’s race ended early, his No. 5 HMS teammate Kyle Larson finished the race in 2nd and claimed the No. 1 spot on the championship leaderboard for the first time this season. William Byron in the No. 24 HMS Chevrolet finished 9th and rose two places in points to 13th, while Chase Elliott finished down in 23rd and fell to 12th on the points table.

While Chevrolet and HMS have had struggles throughout the 2026 season, it’s a season that Alex Bowman would like to put to rest quickly simply because of all the ups and downs he’s faced right from COTA, when he had to be replaced mid-race. 

Bowman was diagnosed with vertigo and missed four races to recover before he was declared fit to drive again. Having missed four races, the No. 48 team stood no chance of making the Chase cut unless they made a remarkable comeback, which never happened.

Bowman has announced that 2027 will be his final season with HMS in the NASCAR Cup Series. Connor Zilisch will be taking over the No. 48 car from 2028 onwards. But despite the missed opportunities this year, Bowman and his team would want to finish 2026 on a good note.