Bob Pockrass
FOX Motorsports Insider
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One NASCAR Cup Series driver celebrated Ryan Blaney’s victory Saturday in the regular-season finale at Daytona.
Alex Bowman.
Bowman, who crashed out about 2.5 hours before the finish of the race, had to sit and watch and hope for a driver who had already won this season to win, which would keep open the final playoff spot for a winless driver.
So when Blaney earned his second victory of the season in a wild finish with six of the seven drivers behind him not having won this year, Bowman could celebrate making the playoffs.
What does he owe Blaney?
“Seven million beers,” Bowman said.
Bowman might have been exaggerating a little as he admitted his hands were shaking throughout the final laps when winless drivers Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer all led over the final 10 laps.
After crashing out, Bowman spent the next two-plus hours in his hauler watching the race with his crew members.
“It’s been sh–ty” Bowman said. “It’s not a good time to be me. I don’t want to let my team down. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve done a lot of really good things. And the situation that we’re in coming here, it’s tough and we crash, and then something that’s outside of our control, and then you just have to sit and watch.
“It’s not fun for any of these guys. So they all work really hard, and they deserve to be in it. And I’m glad that we’re in it.”
With 14 winners this year having locked up spots in the 16-driver playoff field coming into Daytona, the top-two winless drivers — Tyler Reddick and Bowman — came into the race on the bubble. If no new winner, both would advance. If there was a new winner, Bowman would have had to rally from a 29-point deficit to Reddick.
Bowman said he and crew chief Blake Harris shouted at the television during the final laps as Blaney made a monstrous run.
“We were talking about dumb stuff trying to lighten the mood,” Bowman said about being in the hauler. “And then that last restart happened, and it was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re in a really terrible situation right now.’
“I’m certainly glad it worked out how it did.”
That looked possible when Reddick spun and his nose tapped the wall just 18 laps into the race. He was able to continue and nine laps later, Bowman got collected in a big crash that ended his race.
He spent the next couple hours in his team transporter watching the race with his crew members.
The Hendrick driver had entered the race ninth in the series standings and after the crash knew his playoff hopes were on the brink. He had started second but got shuffled to the back and felt that partly set up him being in the position he was to get collected in the accident when Bubba Wallace got turned.
“I really don’t know what to think until the race is over,” Bowman said after the crash. “I don’t get super high and I don’t get super low, either. I’m kind of somewhere in the middle.
“I’m frustrated that we didn’t stay up front, keep our track position, that we started with, frustrated that we crashed.”
Afterward, Bowman admitted he was more relieved than excited. He said he has felt gassed in the last month.
“I’m relieved,” Bowman said. “It has been such a stressful string of races. I would say Indy on has been just this incredible amount of stress.
“I don’t want to say pressure, because [team vice chairman] Jeff Gordon’s like, ‘Hey, man, you prepared all you can and whatever happens is going to happen.’ But from my side of things, I’m like, we have to make the damn playoffs. We have to do this. Like we don’t have a choice.”
As for Reddick, he didn’t know what to think. He felt he made a mistake in the crash and he knows if those mistakes continue, he won’t last long in the playoffs.
“It’s not the way we want to cap off the regular season,” said Reddick, who won the regular-season title a year ago. “We’ve got work to do. We’re all capable of it. It’s been tough. We just continue to make mistakes and not capitalize.
“Now we’ve got to put it all together when the pressure is on for the playoffs. … We’ve got to clean it up.”
While these two drivers were the big winners Sunday, there also was Blaney, who knew that there were several drivers around him needing a win but didn’t feel any made any overly bold moves to try to make the playoffs.
Blaney didn’t know at the time that there was a driver cheering big for him to win.
“Ryan’s a good dude, and I’m happy to see him win,” Bowman said. “He’s had a ton of huge hits here. I don’t know what to say other than that. I’m just thankful that he won.”
When Blaney found out what Bowman said about what he owes Blaney, Blaney said Bowman didn’t owe him 7 million beers.
“I’ll save him some money and take 5 million,” Blaney said. “I’ll take that offer.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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