Michigan Cup race red-flagged after hard hit for Bowman

Alex Bowman’s day came to a painful, early end at Michigan International Speedway after he got the worst of a multi-car crash on lap 67 of 200.

The field was one lap into one of Michigan’s chaotic Cup Series restarts when a four-wide battle between Ty Dillon, Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez and Riley Herbst rolled down into Turn 1. Running on the outside of the group, Suarez and Herbst drifted back, stacking up the cars behind them.

Ryan Preece was able to drive past the pair while hugging the white line at the bottom of the racing surface, but Cole Custer was less fortunate in the middle lane. As Custer tried to pilot his No. 41 under the pair, he made contact with the right side of Austin Cindric. That sent Custer sliding up the track and into both Suarez and Bowman before he spun, clipping pole winner Chase Briscoe.

Suarez was hit in the left-rear and suffered a typical spin, but Bowman was caught in the left-front and sent head-on into the Turn 2 wall.

“Looks like the No. 41 got loose or the No. 2 got into him,” Bowman said. “At that point, you’re just along for the ride. Couldn’t really do anything but think, ‘Oh [boy], this is about to hurt really bad.’

NASCAR briefly red-flagged the race after the crash, bringing the field to a stop on the front straightaway to allow safety personnel to assist Bowman. The Hendrick Motorsports star climbed out his destroyed No. 48 Chevrolet under his own power and walked to a nearby ambulance for transfer to the infield car center.

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“Yeah, that hurt a lot,” Bowman said. “That was probably top of the board on hits I’ve taken, and unfortunately I’ve taken a lot of hits.”

Bowman was caught in the crash because he was running at the back of the top 30, mired deep in the field. It left him at risk in an area where “[it] gets pretty crazy and stuff like that happens."

“Hate that for our team,” he continued. “It’s been a rough two months. Just gotta keep digging.”

Sunday’s hard crash isn’t the first Bowman has suffered in recent years. The Arizonian missed five Cup races after suffering a concussion in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2022. Bowman has also spent the better part of the past two years recovering and regaining his feel in the car after fracturing a vertebra in an April 2023 sprint car crash during a High Limit Racing event at 34 Raceway.

While he emerged from the accident okay, Sunday’s result will serve as a hit to Bowman’s playoff hopes. With no cars out prior to the crash, Bowman will be left with a 36th-place finish. He entered the Michigan weekend 12th in the regular season standings, 45 points above Preece on the provisional playoff cutline after suffering six finishes outside of the top 25 in the past eight races.

All the No. 48 team can do is try to reset heading into Mexico City.