October 7, 2024

Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports finished 16th after surviving the chaos of Talladega Superspeedway during Sunday's YellaWood 500. Starting from the 23rd position, Bowman quietly began working through the field during the race's first stage. Bowman went to pit road for tires and fuel after the race's first caution, and from there, he ascended through the field but fell short of scoring stage points at the end of the first stage, where he placed 11th. In the second stage, Bowman made a couple more pit stops for tires and fuel, but it helped him to make it up to sixth and gain stage points at the end of the stage. This was not without controversy; however, Bowman pushed into Ryan Blaney, coming to the finish line for the end of the stage and setting off a small wreck. During the stage break, Bowman received a pit road penalty for his team removing equipment outside of the pit box and started from the rear at the beginning of the third stage. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver would regain ground during the final stage until he was involved in the biggest crash of the day on lap 184. Bowman survived the wreck and continued, making it back to 16th for his second finish outside of the Top 10 for the 2024 playoffs. As the Cup Series heads to one of his best tracks next week, the Charlotte Roval, Bowman is in comfortable standing with 26 points above the cutoff line to advance to the next round of the playoffs.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com