PHOENIX, Ariz. – Alex Bowman had a memorable day at Phoenix International Raceway, but his sixth-place finish and 194 laps led in Sunday afternoon’s Can-Am 500 will be overshadowed by an incident with Matt Kenseth in NASCAR overtime.
While hunting down for the race lead in a two-lap shootout, Bowman on the bottom made contact with Kenseth, sending his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota around and into the outside wall and abruptly ending his Championship hopes.
It’s easy to blame Bowman, the non-Chaser for taking a Chaser out – not only for the win, but a championship, but it goes deeper than just two cars making contact.
It was racing at the pinnacle of the Sprint Cup level.
On the restart, Kyle Busch attempted to pass Bowman and move the rookie driver from the bottom lane, but Bowman blocked and received a bump from the reigning champion instead. That bump knocked Bowman’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sideways and threw him into Turn 1 at a somewhat awkward angle. Kenseth at the same time was cleared by his spotter to come down to the bottom lane.
The two collided and the rest is history.
“I hate it for Matt,” said Bowman. “You take somebody out like that. I would have raced the hell out of him for the win, but definitely, don’t want to do that. Hate that, and it ruined our day, too. So, it’s unfortunate.
“Restarts with three to go at the Cup level. I mean, that’s what happens,” added Bowman. “We’re all here to win races and doing everything we can to win races. I don’t think Kyle wrecked Matt. I don’t think I wrecked Matt.
“I think the situation, it just all it all happened like that. It’s unfortunate. But I don’t think you can really place the blame on one person. It just sucks for Matt.
“I don’t know Matt. He’s probably really mad at me right now I’d imagine, but hopefully, we can move past it and race clean at Homestead.”
After the race, Kenseth’s spotter Chris Osborne took full responsibly for the mishap and later apologized through Twitter to all of Kenseth’s fans.
Apologies to EVERY @mattkenseth fan out there for ending our chase hopes today! Obviously this 1's on me!!
— Chris Osborne (@crazy_spotter) November 13, 2016
At the moment the caution waved, Bowman was shuffled from second to fifth and subsequently lost a position on the second attempt at NASCAR overtime to earn a career-best sixth place finish.
Understandably hard for Kenseth and his group to swallow the outcome at Phoenix, a positive take in Sunday’s penultimate race of the season should be the overall performance from Bowman.
On Friday, the Tucson, Arizona native continuing to sub for the ailing Dale Earnhardt Jr., earned his first Sprint Cup pole – but he proved that knockout lap in time trials two days ago were just the start of what his No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet was capable of.
For much of the race, Bowman seemed untouchable. The rookie looked and drove like a seasoned veteran. Yes, pit strategy late in the race shuffled the deck, but it didn’t take Bowman long to inch his way back into contention.
If not for a Lap 311 crash from Michael McDowell in Turn 3, Bowman likely would have finished second. But the eighth caution of the day stacked the field back together and Bowman had an opportunity to win.
It didn’t work out.
But, what did work out was Bowman’s ability to showcase his talent.
A free agent for 2017, Bowman gave the performance of his life — hoping it will be enough to take him off the sidelines next season.
“That race car just makes a hell of a difference,” Bowman said.
“To come here, I think I’ve had four Cup races here, and I don’t even know if I’ve finished inside the top 30 in any of them, and then came here with Hendrick Motorsports and led almost 200 laps. There was a lot of guys in the garage that can get the job done and run up front, they just don’t get the opportunity to show it, and I’m just thankful that I was given the opportunity to show it today.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
