Alex Bowman is having a major pit crew reshuffle in the third race of the 2025 NASCAR championship playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 13. Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition, Chad Knaus, clarified why the team made the decision.The poor results at the first two playoff events led to significant changes being made to Alex Bowman's pit crew in the run-up to the pivotal Bristol playoff race. Among the new crew members, Bowman will have new tire changers Daniel Bach and Rod Cox, a new tire carrier Jarius Morehead, and a new jackman Cody French. Jacob Conley is set to remain as a fueler to the No. 48 team at Bristol.The intention behind this swap is to inject some vitality and better execution into Alex Bowman, who is now 35 points behind the playoff cutoff, and his team requires a must-win situation to make it through. Bowman's original pit crew was making serious errors, such as a 40-second pit stop at Darlington because of a misplaced air hose, and a 24-second extended pit stop at Gateway because of a misfit left rear tire.These mistakes had dramatic effects on his race performance, and Alex Bowman was way behind in the field even though his car performed competitively. Hendrick Motorsports team leadership worked hand in hand to conclude a reset by introducing this new crew in order to maximize pit stops and to give Bowman the best opportunity to advance in the playoffs.Chad Knaus, in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, said:"After what's happened the last couple weeks. We've we sat back We we made we had some tough decisions Sunday night There are tough conversations Sunday night, and then Monday morning. We got together put our heads together with the pit staff Evan cracks and Jacob Claiborne and Blake and I and you know Mr. Andrews. Gordon and Mr. Hendrick all you know have a Part in some role.""You know this as well And we just decided it was you know we need to go into Bristol with with a little bit of fresh And and that's what we need to do so so we made the call You know the the 48 pit crew is amazing there When they're fast and they're clicking they're one of the best on pit road So I do feel that and we told the guys and we feel you know hardly mean it," he added.He further added:"Regulars on the 48 an opportunity to Go out there and show that their strength and what they're capable of doing and you know that 77 cars more than capable of winning that race as well, so It's it's a good reset for everybody."Alex Bowman has had a highly consistent but winless 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. He has two poles at Homestead-Miami and Bristol, six top-five finishes, and 14 top-tens so far.Alex Bowman laments Gateway struggles following frustrating P26 finishAlex Bowman described his race at Gateway as a "bummer" and expressed frustration over the poor execution by his team on multiple fronts during the Enjoy Illinois 300. Starting from P25 and finishing P26, Bowman earned only 11 points, highlighting the worst result among Hendrick Motorsports drivers at that event.Talking about a poor execution at Gateway, he said (quotes via NBC Sports):"It was just really poor execution on all angles today. It was a bummer. I thought our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet was OK once we were kind of towards the front-half. We just struggled in the back. Super frustrating, but all we can do is keep digging. There’s a lot of people working really hard to continue to be better. I thought, race car-wise, we were heading in the right direction once we had some air on it. We just have to go to Bristol and go to work.”He acknowledged that while the No. 48 Chevrolet showed potential once it reached the front half of the field, initial struggles and execution errors kept it down. Alex Bowman remains focused on improving and is determined to bounce back strongly at the upcoming Bristol race.