Alex Bowman ran strong throughout the Würth 400 and registered his sixth top 10 of the season at the Monster Mile on Sunday. But Bowman could have finished a few spots higher than 8th if Kyle Larson didn’t fight the good fight for optimal track position at the end of Stage 2.

As the #48 driver vented his frustrations at the #5 before eventually finishing P2 at the end of the second stage, his spotter raised a social media storm attempting to motivate Bowman, however, in a somewhat aggressive manner. Now Kenny Wallace has come forward to side with the wheelman, who seemed to have been “stuck on an island,” unable to express his thoughts. And he believes it’s similar to another Dover tale tailored almost 23 years ago, at the hands of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kenny Wallace compares #48 rants to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Dover loneliness

Before Larson air-blocked the #48 Chevy to maintain his P1 position as the race reached its final scheduled break, radio conversations between Bowman and Hamlin generated considerable buzz. Kenny Wallace was one of the many paying attention to these confusing interactions. He mildly touched upon this very segment from the race in his recent YouTube video.

Wallace explained the big controversy plaguing Hendrick Motorsports momentarily, as he shared, “Let’s talk about that three-wide exit off Pit Road. Alex Bowman upset. At this moment. he’s running in the top three. He’s got a shot to win the race. Catches everybody in the United States off guard. Yes, the United States because social media lit up. Jimmie Johnson’s (successor) said: ‘Tell Kyle Larson, my teammate, thanks a lot buddy…’ Basically, Alex Bowman was pissed,” explained Kenny Wallace.

His spotter, on the other hand, Kevin Hamlin would not be too impressed by Bowman’s mid-race sarcasm, urging the #48 to “Drive like an a**hole” in replies, elaborating that if he truly wanted to pass his teammate, he had “to go f***ing earn it.” These statements did not sit right with Kenny, a former NASCAR colleague of Hamlin in the mid-2000s. He empathized with Bowman’s situation, and declared, “I don’t like spotters that talk back to me… I don’t look at him (Bowman) whining and crying. I look at him keying the button, venting frustration. This is what happens.”

Kenny then brought to light another anecdote straight from the vaults of the Monster Mile to compare Bowman’s current situation. And where did he look to find a worthy relation? Referencing the infamous ‘Wilson the volleyball’ taped in Dale Jr’s car at the time, Kenny narrated, “It was at Dover actually… Remember when Dale Jr put a volleyball in his race car at Dover and said: okay I’m out here on the racetrack by myself. You all don’t want me talking to you. So I got this volleyball. So it was just him and the volleyball…

“And this is what Alex Bowman was doing,” explained Wallace. Furthermore, when outlining his point of view on the incident, he iterated, “He was just keying his button. He was venting his frustration. Network TV got a hold of it. They shoot to the spotter, Kevin Hamlin, and all of a sudden it’s all this drama. But I’m gonna go the other way on this one because I’m a race car driver….”

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Coming off an impressive P5 finish at Talladega, the #48 team appears to have reclaimed momentum as we head to Kansas this week. But on Sunday, Bowman showed exactly why he is not just a silent contender, but a viable threat to anyone aspiring for a playoff spot this season. Starting his race in P9, the 31-year-old battled many frontrunners, including his Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson.

After a 72-race winless streak, the Würth 400 looked like Bowman’s best chance at adding to Hendrick Motorsports’ tally of 5 race wins already in the 2024 season. Moreover, Bowman has rarely interacted with the media to set the NASCAR world ablaze with controversy or accolades- unlike his Hendrick teammates- leading him to be often overlooked in major discussions.

As Kenny explained, “Sometimes you just want to moan to your wife or your crew members, and you just want them to hear you but Kevin Hamlin comes back and gets in Alex’s face which I didn’t like. Okay, if I’m Alex Bowman and listen, Kevin Hamlin’s a good spotter, I get it because he makes $1,000 a weekend, whatever they pay him. Spotter’s a good paying gig, but if I’m Kevin Hamlin, I’m the psychologist, I’m saying: I hear you, Alex. Stay digging buddy. We got a great car. It’s all I’d say.”

In fact, Wilson the volleyball’s cameo in Dale Jr’s #8 car for DEI during Dover 2001 was again a psychological ‘amend’ coming from the crew towards Junior’s comments of ‘feeling all alone’ at Darlington, similar to Tom Hanks in the movie “Cast Away.” Ironically, Tony Eury Jr. and the #8 team cleverly came up with the idea for “Wilson” a few weeks later at Dover, referencing Tom Hanks’ ‘volleyball’ sidekick.

It all worked out in the end, as Dale Jr would win his Dover advance that day, alongside Wilson. This begs the question, does the #48 need its own Wilson? Or will these fleeting tensions only last till Bowman drives his Chevy to victory lane?