Alex Bowman was unable to catch Austin Dillon in the closing laps of this past Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. Now, Bowman heads into this Saturday’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway facing a must-win situation.
Yes, Bowman is ninth in the points standings. His 14 top-10 finishes are second most among Cup drivers. Bowman, however, hasn’t found his way to Victory Lane. He’s currently occupying the final postseason spot, +60 above the cutline. Kevin Harvick doesn’t like his chances of holding onto that playoff spot at Daytona.
“I felt like the 48 had a shot. And I feel like they’re in a bad spot now,” Harvick said on his Happy Hour podcast. “With Austin Dillon winning this race — I look at Alex Bowman +60 — I just don’t think that spot’s gonna be there after this weekend. I think there’s a good possibility that we see somebody else outside of those 14 guys that’s locked in win at Daytona.
“We’ve been talking about this for months, and I think a lot of those guys that have been counting points and not won a race — you just had the feeling it was coming down to this 14, 15 winners.”
Alex Bowman needs to find Victory Lane at Daytona
There have been 14 winners this season. Tyler Reddick has the 15th playoff spot, +89 above the cutline and 29 points ahead of Bowman. If there’s a new winner at Daytona, only one of Reddick or Bowman will get into the playoffs. Both will be playoff bound if there is no new winner — it’s that simple.
Anyone can win at Daytona. We saw it last year when Harrison Burton, 34th in points, won and clinched his spot in the playoffs. This year, there’s a group of veteran drivers who need to win and know how to do it on superspeedways. That has Harvick concerned about Bowman’s chances to pull off a victory at Daytona.
“I think going into Daytona that being brave and taking chances and putting yourself in a position to win is something that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. can do, Brad Keselowski can do, Kyle Busch can do, Chris Buescher can do. … Those guys have already done it on a superspeedway, and they’ve done it multiple times on a superspeedway,” Harvick said. “I think the Fords are gonna be fast. And I think with Austin Dillon winning and RCR being able to focus just on that 8 car for Daytona, I know personally how good RCR cars have been on superspeedways.
“I don’t know, it just has that feeling that there’s a high possibility of someone outside the top 14 winning. And I think that puts Bowman in a bad spot. Having to try figure out how to gain those points on Tyler Reddick is going to be a tall task.”
