TROUBLE FOR ALEX BOWMAN.
Hood up. White smoke. Not good.
? : USA Network pic.twitter.com/KUrcXzdjbp
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 23, 2024
Major trouble for a NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs hopeful, Alex Bowman. While running inside the top-15, as the caution came out on Lap 142 for a spinning Daniel Hemric, Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 started spewing smoke out of the right side exhaust pipe.
Bowman would take his car down pit road, and would pull the Ally machine to the garage area, where his team began taking a look at what was wrong.
At this time, Bowman is still in the race, but behind the wall. If he is unable to return to the racetrack, this will mark the first time since he moved to Hendrick Motorsports full-time in 2018 that he will have a race ended early by an engine failure.
Bowman entered the day as the 14th driver in the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid, and without a win in his back pocket, Bowman is clinging to his points total as his current best shot at getting into the Playoffs. He entered the day 66 points above Joey Logano, the first driver outside the Playoffs Cutline. With Logano running inside the top-five, there’s a very real chance that Bowman’s Playoff hopes take a massive hit following Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
