Alex Bowman has opened up on the massive crash during the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Michigan International Speedway that brought out the red flag. Five drivers were involved in the incident that caused Bowman to lose control of his car and crash head-on into the barriers.
The incident occurred after a contact between the No. 2 and No. 41 cars, which then spilled onto the No. 99 and the No. 48. The No. 19 car wasn’t spared either. Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe were involved in the incident, and fortunately, all escaped unharmed.
For Bowman, the incident was severe enough to knock him out of the race. Admitting that it was the hardest hit he ever had in a stock car, he told Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports:
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“It happened so fast that I didn’t even see them. I didn’t know who hit me until I saw the video. It’s always turbulent in the 300th. It’s crazy back there. It gets wild and that is part of racing. It’s wild all through the field.
“Unfortunately, the further back you get, the less downforce cars have, the dirtier the air, the situations you’re in, and the worst everybody stuff drives. So stuff like this tends to happen.”
He added:
“I feel okay. It was the biggest hit I’ve ever taken in a stock car by a mile. Head-on into the wall at Michigan, it’s gonna be that way. Try to go get them next week.”
Bowman wasn’t the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to suffer a setback. William Byron, who led the race for 98 laps, lost the lead to Denny Hamlin after running out of fuel when there were just four laps to go. He finished the race in 28th place after refueling. Speaking to Sports on Prime after the disappointing race finish, Byron said:
“We didn’t have enough. We were going to run out with a lap and a half left, we did run out with a lap and a half left. I was trying to manage both [and] manage the gap and save [gas]. It sucks, it really stings. Not able to do much about that. It is what it is.”
FireKeepers Casino 400 Cup Series Race Results
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Chris Buescher
3. Ty Gibbs
4. Bubba Wallace
5. Kyle Larson
6. Ross Chastain
7. Zane Smith
8. Kyle Busch
9. Ryan Preece
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Erik Jones
12. Josh Berry
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Chase Elliott
16. Christopher Bell
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Shane van Gisbergen
19. Austin Dillon
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21. Justin Haley
22. Joey Logano
23. Chase Briscoe
24. Ty Dillon
25. Riley Herbst
26. Cody Ware
27. Noah Gragson
28. William Byron
29. Carson Hocevar
30. Michael McDowell
31. Austin Cindric
32. Ryan Blaney
33. Todd Gilliland
34. John H Nemechek
35. Cole Custer
36. Alex Bowman