Alex Bowman doesn’t sugarcoat his “stressful” thoughts as he’s the sole HMS driver without NASCAR playoff ticket

Alex Bowman is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who has yet to make the playoffs. Only one race remains until the postseason kicks off at Darlington Raceway, and as things stand, Bowman has to win it to qualify.

There is immense pressure on him to make it. But Bowman isn’t in denial. Sitting ninth on points, the Chevy icon knows how important it is to make the playoffs as a NASCAR Cup Series full-timer.

“It’s certainly really stressful on a lot of fronts,” Bowman said in a statement. “I think with the way that race normally goes, it’s about a must-win at that point because I think you’re most likely going to have a new winner. So, we need to go execute and try to win the race. That’s all we really can do.”

“We just have to go to work. That’s all we can do at this point, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” he added.

Last Saturday at Richmond, Alex Bowman bagged a P2 finish, picking up 41 points on the way. Next up for the 32-year-old is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Bowman has three poles in the crown jewel Daytona 500. His average finish of 14.7 ranks inside the top three among the active Cup Series drivers. In 31 starts at the iconic track, Bowman has five top-fives and five top-10s. All things considered, one could say that the Tucson, Arizona native has been quite strong at Daytona.

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“They’re not gonna help us”- Alex Bowman targets fellow Chevy driver through radio chatter at Richmond

Alex Bowman’s #48 Camaro was super fast at Richmond last week. He tried his best to catch the eventual race-winner, Austin Dillon, during the closing laps but still fell short. Turns out that nobody gave him the push he needed to clear the Richard Childress Racing driver.

This led to an exchange between Bowman and the No. 48 team on the radio. Struggling to lap Shane van Gisbergen, who also drives a Chevrolet Camaro, Bowman radioed to his team,

“They’re not gonna help us, they hate us.”

Gisbergen wasn’t the only driver from Team Chevy who stood in Bowman’s way. Moments after his encounter with the former Supercars sensation, Dillon’s teammate and Xfinity Series driver Jesse Love was seen blocking Bowman, adding to his frustration.

“His teammate is f*****g blocking me now. It's just race manipulation, but whatever," Alex Bowman exclaimed.

“Why is it so hard with Team Chevrolet? Never ask for a single f*****g thing,” someone from his team replied.

All eyes are now on Daytona International Speedway, which will host the next Cup Series race. Scheduled for this coming Saturday, August 23, the 400-lap event will be televised on Peacock from 7:30 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.