Alex Bowman Bemoans Playoff Elimination and Blames “Poor Cycle Tire Restarts” for Bristol Disappointment

Hendrick Motorsports veteran Alex Bowman shared his thoughts on the disappointing results from the Bristol Cup and R-16 elimination.

Alex Bowman Bemoans Playoff Elimination and Blames “Poor Cycle Tire Restarts” for Bristol Disappointment

Alex Bowman (Via IMAGO)

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The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season so far hasn’t been kind to Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman. He has been the worse driver from the HMS garage this year, being the only driver without a win and making into the last-16 barely on points. Now things have gotten from bad to worse after three poor performances in R-16 got him eliminated from the playoffs.

On his post-race interview, Alex Bowman shared his thoughts on the disappointing exit and tried to explain what went wrong for the No:48 Chevy team. He admitted that thought there isn’t on concrete reason for the poor run, their cycle tire restarts execution was really poor and that hurt them the most during the races.

I don’t think you can really point at one thing that cost us. Being out of tires at the end isn’t good, right? Honestly, we just played the hand that we could and stayed out. If I had to pick one thing, our cycle tire restarts were just really poor — I couldn’t go at all, zero grip.

Alex Bowman said via NBC Sports after the race.

The tire lacked any grip and he failed to make moves, owing to the control issues. He was able make moves with scuffs, but as soon they are back with cycle tires things went back to another level of toughness. The only positive he has about the weekend is fact that they have been able to have a good race after the disappointing outings in the first two races of the round.

Our restarts on stickers, or even when we put our scuffs on, it was fine, but cycle tires were really bad. Trying to be better after a rough last two weeks, and I think we swung it in the right direction, and we can continue to do that for the next [seven weeks].

Alex Bowman asserted.

He came into the weekend with their back against the wall and is going back home without the pressure of the playoffs, due to his failure. Though it can’t been seen as positive result, it gives him some confidence to keep digging for better results in the coming races.

We’ve just got to keep digging. It (expletive) to not transfer, but our back was against the wall coming in here. We knew it was going to be a tough thing to do. Not a terrible day for us, and we’ll keep digging.

Alex Bowman added.

Alex Bowman shares his goals for the remaining races of the season

In a separate conversation after the race, Alex Bowman admitted he had a better car for the race compared to the qualifying, giving him more confidence about the remaining seven races of the season. He is determined to score more points, maybe secure a race win he desperately looking for, and secure a better finish on the points table.

Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman (Via IMAGO)

Good Ally Camaro compared to yesterday made some gains on it. Still have some gains we need to make in the final races…. Just got to keep digging, right? There’s a lot of points we can still score. We can still finish way better than wherever we’re at in points right now.

Alex Bowman said via Frontstretch.

The comments from the Hendrick Motorsports star driver shows despite the disappointment, he is determined to find redemption before the end of the season. If he failed to make a mark this year as well, Rick Hnedrick might be force to look into signing a new driver for the No:48 team.

Also Read: Brad Keselowski Exposes the Reason for Bristol Loss Despite Having “a Great Car and Great Strategy”