CONCORD, North Carolina – Alex Bowman turned heads again this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but an accident 62 laps into Sunday’s postponed Bank of America 500 left the subbing Hendrick Motorsports driver with a disappointing finish.
Bowman qualified his No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet a career-best second Thursday night and despite a brief plummet through the field early in the rain-postponed, Bowman climbed back to third and was challenging Kyle Busch for second with a right front-tire failure sent the driver into Casey Mears and both into the Turn 3 wall.
The damage was deemed too severe for Bowman to continue and he was credited with a 39th place finish.
“Blew a tire I guess. It’s really unfortunate,” said Bowman. “I hate it for these Axlata guys. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports worked so hard. They brought a great race car here, brand new and destroyed it. Really unfortunate, but it’s not anybody’s fault. We didn’t hit nothing we just must have run over something.
“It’s nobody’s fault. We just must have run something over. It’s unfortunate and I hate it for all the guys. Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports brought a great car to the race track.”
Subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. who is out for the year with concussion-related symptoms, Bowman will be back in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet next weekend at Kansas Speedway, while relinquishing to four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon for the final time this season at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 30.
Earnhardt was at the track Sunday atop of the pit box of the No. 88 supporting his team.
The Tucson, Ariz. native has made five Cups starts this season in the No. 88 Chevrolet with a best finish of 10th last month at Chicagoland Speedway.
“They knew we were here that is all that matters,” added Bowman. “ There is nothing more I can do, nothing more anybody on the race team can do. They all do a great job and did everything right, just bad luck.”
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