Bowman has frustrating day at New Hampshire

Ales Bowman's frustrating day at New Hampshire
led to a 26th-place finish.

Alex Bowman's day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday did not go well, at least Bowman thinks.

“I hate the circumstances, obviously, and I hope Dale is feeling better,” he said. “I’m just so appreciative of the opportunity to be here. I’m really disappointed to end our day that way, but we showed we were a top-10 car all day long. 

“This is the first time I’ve consistently run in the top-10 in a Cup car. We made a lot of progress this weekend. This is by far my worst race track. To come here with these guys and run that well just shows what a great piece they bring to the race track. I’ve never really had a great feel for this place, so to be able to run top-10 means a lot and I wish we had the finish, but I think they knew we were here."

Bowman rolled off the grid 20th. By the time a competition caution was called after Lap 35, Bowman had moved up to 16th. When the No. 88 team elected for two tires while many competitors took four, he jumped up to ninth on the race off pit road. However, he fell behind many of the drivers who took four tires on the restart, falling outside of the top 20 by the time a caution flag waved on Lap 100.

On Lap 132, however, Bowman jumped back inside the top 15. Following a cycle of green-flag pit stops, he raced his way up to 12th on Lap 192. Before a caution for debris at Lap 219, he had made his way to 11th, and thanks to a quick stop by the No. 88 crew, he entered the top 10 for the first time for the ensuing restart. He moved up to eighth with 30 laps to go, but one lap later he suffered a tire issue that sent the No. 88 Chevy into the wall. He headed to pit road for repairs and returned to the track, ultimately finishing 26th.

“I think the No. 19 (Carl Edwards) was backing up because he was blocked in as I was leaving the pit box,” Bowman explained as to what caused his tire to go down. “My left-rear hit his right-rear as I was leaving. It caved it in enough, we thought we would be fine, but obviously, when I got into the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) it was already going down. I got really loose, got up the race track and got into him. 

“I hate that for Kurt. Obviously, just got loose had a tire going down and then it went down at about the start/finish line, I just tried to hang on to it. It is really unfortunate."