DOVER, Del. – Alex Bowman was the fastest car at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday (April 28) heading toward the final moments of stage 2.
It looked like the Wurth 400 was the perfect opportunity for the Hendrick Motorsports veteran to end his 72-race winless drought in the NASCAR Cup Series.
That’s when aerodynamics came into play.
Time and again, Bowman’s potential pass of teammate Kyle Larson fell short heading toward lap 250 due to some well-time blocks from the No. 5 Chevrolet. One of them left Bowman skating a little higher than expected, costing him precious time and leaving him battling with eventual winner Denny Hamlin for the runner-up spot the rest of the stage.
The moves from Larson weren’t unusual on a day where it was near impossible to pass. But the incident sparked an argument between Bowman and spotter Kevin Hamlin that may resonate beyond this event.
As Bowman lost crucial ground to Larson, taking away his line, he complained about how Larson was racing him on the track.
“Much appreciated, 5 car,” Bowman said, letting off some steam. That’s when the transmissions took a turn.
“He’s not going to pull over for you,” Bowman’s spotter, Kevin Hamlin, said unprompted. “You’ve got to go f***ing earn it.”
Hamlin didn’t stop there.
“Drive like an a**hole,” he said if Bowman was frustrated with Larson. “The rest of the race.”
The tone was combative, met with frustration by Bowman.
“Just let me drive the f***ing race car,” he said, quieting the radio as the second stage came to a close.
Moments later, Bowman found himself on the short end of the stick in a three-wide battle coming off pit road with Larson and Hamlin. His No. 48 Chevrolet took some contact as he got squeezed out of the sandwich and restarted behind both cars, taking in some slight damage.
In the final stage, things returned to normal somewhat, but Bowman was never as fast as he was in the midpoint of the race. Gradually losing track position during the final stage, he wound up eighth, third best among the HMS drivers who finished the event. One of the fastest drivers over the course of the day never wound up leading a single lap.
Bowman explained later how tough it was to get stalled behind Larson at that…
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