Alex Bowman’s return to NASCAR competition ran into early trouble in Sunday’s Cup Series race, with a four-car crash relegating him to a last-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bowman was running 31st in the 37-car field when Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet spun on the 160th of 500 scheduled laps in the Food City 500 (FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Van Gisbergen’s car collected Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, as well as the cars of John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland as the quartet squeezed along the outside retaining wall.
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Bowman’s car spent several laps behind pit wall for repairs before his No. 48 team determined that the damage was terminal.
Bowman entered Sunday’s event 36th in the Cup Series standings after missing the last four races with vertigo. He started 27th and said the pre-race preparations felt routine, even though he hadn’t competed since March 1.
“I don’t think my emotions were much different to start the race,” Bowman said after an evaluation at the infield care center. “Honestly, I think you know coming here, thankful to be back in a car, but at the same time, like just looking at the challenge that we have and just how far behind we are and off we are and how much better we need to get. So really, we need one good week to start the ball rolling in the right direction, and honestly, I thought this could be a really good one for us, even after qualifying. I think this is a good place for us historically, and just didn’t happen today.”
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Bowman was 30th at the end of Stage 1 on Lap 125. He completed just 38 more laps and exited as the race’s first retiree.
MORE: Bowman opens up on vertigo bout
Bowman said he felt “totally fine” physically after his first race back, though he was surprised by the performance at one of his better tracks. Bowman had finished among the top 10 in three of his last four Bristol races, and that span included a pair of pole positions.
He’ll aim to return in next Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has 11 top-10 finishes in 20 starts.
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“Just all you can do is keep digging,” Bowman said. “I’ve had plenty of ups and downs throughout the course of my career, and yeah, I mean, we can just as easily go win next week, not saying that we’re going to. We have a lot of work to do before we can contend for wins, but it is a great race track for us, and the way this stuff ebbs and flows, you never know what can happen. So we’re gonna go try to win next week, the best we can.”
