Alex Bowman sums up disappointment in being involved in 'big one' at Daytona, playoff chances in limbo

Alex Bowman said he was feeling stressed coming into Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Imagine how he’s feeling now after being involved in the Lap 27 “big one.”

Bowman’s race is over and now, all he can do is sit and watch. He came into Saturday’s regular season finale occupying the 16th and final playoff spot, needing to win or have a driver who’s already won this season take the checkered flag to advance into the postseason. Now, it’s completely out of his control.

“I hate the way the first run went. It seemed like the bottom lane just dissolved behind us and we tanked. But honestly, we had gotten a lot of track position back,” Bowman told NBC Sports. “We drove up there to the back half of the top 10 or whatever, and just nothing you can do. Welcome to superspeedway racing, unfortunately. Really proud of my Ally 48 team for the year we’ve had up to this point. The last 10 or 11 weeks have been pretty special, but we haven’t won one, so we’re in a tough spot for the rest of the night.

“Regardless of the outcome, it’s out of our control and it is what it is at this point. We’ll wait and see how the race ends up and go from there. Regardless, we’re gonna be hitting hard the next 10 weeks and trying to get a win whether we’re in the playoffs or not.”

Alex Bowman’s playoff hopes out of his control

With Bowman out of the race, Tyler Reddick has officially qualified for the playoffs. Reddick had a 29-point advantage over Bowman coming into the race. He was involved in an incident earlier in Stage 1 but was able to continue.

Bowman now awaits his fate. He isn’t turning away from the TV either, he said. He’ll be locked in throughout the night.

“You have to. There’s no way to get away from it,” Bowman said. “While I will certainly stay away from social media, I’m gonna sit in front of a TV and watch. Bummed for everyone that works so hard to not have a shot at it here tonight, but it was gonna be tough whether we were in it or out of it. Unfortunately, we’re on the sidelines watching and we’re gonna find out here in the next couple hours.”