Safety In Spotlight As Bowman Misses Talladega Cup Race

Alex Bowman waves to fans onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of
The Americas on March 27, 2022. Bowman will miss this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway after experiencing concussion-like symptoms during the week. Photo: Logan Riely/Getty Images

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman announced on Thursday he will not be competing in this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway after experiencing concussion-like symptoms during the week.

He crashed during last week’s Playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway but repairs were made and he returned to competition ultimately finishing 29th.

Although Bowman’s absence this week removes him from NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contention in terms of the driver championship, his car will continue on toward the owner’s championship. NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader Noah Gragson will drive the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevy this week at Talladega. Bowman’s crew chief Greg Ives said he expected that Bowman would be back in the car in the near future.

Ives, a long-time Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, mentioned a couple of areas that immediately occurred to him in terms of safety improvements – from work on the rear of the cars to modifying the drivers compartment to lessen the head movement.

“We can’t just knee-jerk react to it, but we have to react, and try to implement something as calculated as much as you can,” Ives said. “There are small things we can do [soon]. I think you just have to put focus and emphasis on one thing (at a time) and try to get that right.”

On Wednesday of next week, NASCAR is holding a crash test at a facility in Ohio to further develop the car.

A NASCAR spokesman said Saturday that the sanctioning body has been hard at work on evolving the rear clip and bumper structure since early season. And if the test this week goes as expected, there will be modifications made to the car for the 2023 season.

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe acknowledged the safety issues are always on the minds of drivers – that it is the nature of the sport. But he was confident in NASCAR’s efforts.

“Having more people work on this, the better it is,” Briscoe said.

The Byron-Hamlin Fallout

William Byron, who will start ninth in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega, spoke about the penalty he and his team has been issued following an incident in the Texas race last week.

Byron and his team were assessed a 25-point penalty for what NASCAR deemed aggressive driving during a caution period at Texas, however the team is appealing the penalty. The incident involved contact between Byron’s Chevy and Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, which resulted in Hamlin spinning out under caution. He returned to finish 10th and Byron finished seventh.

They were both running top three at the time of the run in, however, and were racing each other hard for position. Byron took exception to Hamlin running him wide – resulting in Byron’s car brushing the wall. Byron retaliated by bumping the back of Hamlin’s car during a yellow flag (thrown for an unrelated incident). The bump – which Byron insists was not meant to actually spin out Hamlin – effectively ended Hamlin’s shot at the Texas trophy, according to Hamlin.

“I guess it was a little bit different than what I expected,” Byron said of the penalty. “I will let the appeal process take care of that. We accept it for this weekend and move on and look at it like any other weekend.”

Byron said the team compiled a “list of evidence” – with video angles and information, he hopes will at the very least lessen the penalty. And he noted, there was no penalty issued to Joey Logano, who ran Byron high (and into the wall) while racing for the victory during the final laps of the spring Darlington race this year.

“My intent was never to spin him under caution,” Byron said. “I meant to go up there and bump him like I’ve seen numerous people do, even during that race. There’s a difference in intent there for sure.”

Byron called it “a little bit weird” that NASCAR issued the penalty post-race, but insisted, “We just take what we’re given. We’re glad to be on this stage, glad to be in the Playoffs still have an opportunity to win the next two weeks and we’re not really that far out. But with the severity of the penalty, that’s what we were opposed to. That’s what the appeal’s about, the severity of the penalty.”

For his part, Hamlin agreed the penalty was too late – for different reasons.

“It didn’t help my finish,” Hamlin said. “It didn’t change the fact I could have won the race and instead finished 10th so you have to account for those points too.”

Inspection Woes

On Tuesday, Byron received that 25-point driver and 25-point team penalty for aggressive driving during a caution period in last Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. And Friday at Talladega, Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team failed pre-race inspection twice – resulting in the ejection of car chief Tyler Jones and the loss of pit stall selection for Sunday’s race.

Both Kaulig Racing team cars – the No. 16 driven by Daniel Hemric and the No. 31 driven by Justin Haley – also failed pre-race inspection losing their respective car chiefs and the choice of a pit stall.

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
YellaWood 500 – October 2, 2022

Sunday’s Starting Lineup

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 20 Christopher Bell (P) Sirius XM Toyota 53.026 180.591
2. 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 53.048 180.516
3. 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx Express Toyota 53.076 180.421
4. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 53.166 180.115
5. 14 Chase Briscoe (P) Magical Vacation Planner Ford 53.268 179.770
6. 1 Ross Chastain (P) Jockey Chevrolet 53.320 179.595
7. 48 Noah Gragson(i) Ally Chevrolet 53.356 179.474
8. 8 Tyler Reddick REALTREE Chevrolet 53.388 179.366
9. 24 William Byron (P) RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 53.434 179.212
10. 23 Ty Gibbs(i) Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
11. 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 53.422 179.252
12. 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 53.427 179.235
13. 16 Daniel Hemric(i) Celsius Chevrolet 53.433 179.215
14. 99 Daniel Suarez (P) Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 53.453 179.148
15. 21 Harrison Burton # Dex Imaging Ford 53.459 179.128
16. 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 53.461 179.121
17. 2 Austin Cindric # (P) Discount Tire Ford 53.465 179.108
18. 6 Brad Keselowski Kohler Generators Ford 53.468 179.098
19. 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 53.471 179.088
20. 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road 53.493 179.014
21. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 53.500 178.991
22. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 53.504 178.977
23. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 53.551 178.820
24. 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light Ford 53.570 178.757
25. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kroger/SunnyD Chevrolet 53.609 178.627
26. 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 53.668 178.430
27. 45 Bubba Wallace Leidos Toyota 53.680 178.390
28. 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 53.709 178.294
29. 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 53.764 178.112
30. 42 Ty Dillon SunseekerResorts.com Chevrolet 53.781 178.055
31. 62 Justin Allgaier(i) Beard Oil/South Point Chevrolet 53.862 177.788
32. 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 54.053 177.159
33. 77 Landon Cassill(i) Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet 54.086 177.051
34. 38 Todd Gilliland # Georgia Peanuts Ford 54.098 177.012
35. 78 B.J. McLeod(i) NASCAR Rivals Ford 54.740 174.936
36. 15 J.J. Yeley(i) Summit Racing Equipment Ford 54.936 174.312
37. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT UBCF Ford 54.940 174.299