Hendrick Motorsports reacted to Alex Bowman’s pivotal race at Bristol Motor Speedway with a pit crew shuffle. The change came after consecutive pit stop struggles that pushed Bowman into an almost must-win situation.During the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, Bowman had a 40-second pit stop due to an air hose issue before eventually finishing 31st. The #48 Chevrolet driver also stopped for 23.9 seconds in the following race at World Wide Technology Raceway, forcing him to settle for a 26th-place finish.For the Bristol night race, the 32-year-old will head out with a new pit crew reassigned from Carson Hocevar’s team. The lineup features front tire changer Daniel Bach, rear tire changer Rod Cox, tire carrier Jarius Morehead, and jackman Cody French, while his fueler Jacob Conley will remain in place. NBC Sports reported the pit crew change on the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team on X.“Changes made to Alex Bowman's pit crew ahead of Bristol playoff race,” NBC Sports wrote.Alex Bowman is 35 points below the playoff cutline in 15th. He faces elimination along with Austin Dillon (-11), Shane van Gisbergen (-15), and Josh Berry (-45), who is expected to run well given his tire management and strong short-track background.Bowman's HMS teammates, meanwhile, have a good chance to advance to the Round of 12. Kyle Larson is 60 points above the cutline in third, followed by William Byron (+39) in sixth. Chase Elliott has a 28-point cushion in ninth ahead of Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Austin Cindric.The elimination race at Bristol is set on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin have already secured their spots in the next round after they each won the first two races of the Round of 16.“It was a bummer”: Alex Bowman on 26th-place finish at WWT RacewayAlex Bowman summed up his run at World Wide Technology Raceway as a “bummer.” He started off with a solid pace but lost ground as the race went on, especially after a costly slow pit stop on lap 135 that derailed his momentum.In a report by NBC Sports, the #48 Hendrick Motorsports driver said:“It was just really poor execution on all angles today. It was a bummer. I thought our #48 Ally Chevrolet was okay 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 (Motor Speedway) and go to work,” he added.If Bowman falls short this weekend, his streak of missing the Round of 8 will remain intact. The last time he advanced that far was in 2020. Most recently, in 2024, he saw his playoff bid collapse in dramatic fashion when his car failed post-race inspection at the Charlotte Roval—an elimination that reinstated Joey Logano, who went on to capture the championship.