NASCAR driver Alex Bowman recently went through a wild turn of events after being disqualified from the Bank of America ROVAL 400. Initially finishing in 18th place, Bowman’s luck soured when his car didn’t meet the post-race weight requirements, knocking him out of the playoffs.
The news of his disqualification broke in a rather surprising way. Bowman learned about it from a tweet by Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass, which caught him off guard. Overwhelmed by the influx of messages that were sure to follow, Bowman tossed his phone into a pool to avoid the chaos. Jeff Gluck from The Athletic summarized the situation humorously:
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“When his phone hit the bottom of the pool, it accidentally called 911, thinking he had been in a crash. Thankfully, no officers showed up since there was no signal underwater. His phone survived the dip, thanks to its waterproof feature!” laughed Gluck, noting that it had indeed been ‘a week’ for Bowman as other troubles piled up, including a cracked car window and a leaky roof.
Alex Bowman learned the DQ news from Twitter and then he threw his phone in the pool bc he knew it was about to blow up with texts. When it hit the bottom of the pool, his phone called 911 because it thought he had been in a car crash. (Fortunately the cops didn’t show up because…
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) October 19, 2024
In light of the disqualification, Hendrick Motorsports decided against appealing the decision. Bowman accepted the team’s conclusion, emphasizing, “We win or lose as a team… unfortunately, we did something wrong this time.” The team released a statement confirming their non-appeal, expressing disappointment over losing a playoff spot and acknowledging the avoidable nature of the incident.
Bowman’s disqualification had significant playoff implications, notably reinstating Joey Logano, who was previously on the brink of elimination. The fallout continues to ripple through the standings as the playoff race unfolds.