NASCAR legend says Alex Bowman ‘deserves’ to be in NASCAR playoffs as he slams the points system

NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick opened up about Alex Bowman's playoff qualification and stated that the Hendrick Motorsports driver deserved to be in the playoffs. Speaking about this, the former NASCAR driver slammed the present point system, as he put together the example of Cole Custer to support his statement.

Bowman qualified for the playoffs after Ryan Blaney won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway last weekend. With this, the HMS driver became one of the two drivers (Tyler Reddick is the other driver) to qualify for the next round with no wins to their name.

Bowman entered the playoffs in the very last position after Blaney won the race. Had it been Cole Custer, who has yet to win a race and was leading at Daytona for seven laps, or Daniel Suarez, who finished second on Sunday, Bowman's journey for the title would have ended for good.

Harvick, in the latest Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour Podcast by Fox Sports, compared the situation where Custer, who was in 33rd place, would have qualified for the playoffs over Bowman, who was in 16th, and was the last driver to qualify. Speaking about this, here's what he said as he slammed the current point system:

"I think Alex Bowman deserves to be in there," Harvick said. "That's the part that I don't like about the current point system is there's nothing that guarantees rewarding all 26 weeks in there. Currently because, had a guy that's well I just tell you Cole Custer was in the mix."

"He's [Custer] 33rd in the points. And to me, that's, that's tough to knock a guy out by winning one super speedway race over a guy like Alex Bowman who's put together 26 weeks," Harvick further added.

Currently, Alex Bowman is in 16th place in the playoff standings, with -5 points, as he is below the cutline along with Josh Berry (-1), Tyler Reddick (-1), and Austin Dillon (-2). If the four aforementioned drivers fail to move out of the cutline after the Bristol Motor Speedway race on September 13, they will be eliminated.

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Alex Bowman let his feelings known after qualifying for NASCAR playoffs

Following his qualification for the NASCAR playoffs, Alex Bowman shared his thoughts. Bowman, who could not do much in the race after crashing out in Stage 1, needed a victory from one of the qualified drivers to proceed to the next round.

Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leaves pit road during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at the Glen - Source: Getty

As Blaney, who already won a race earlier, claimed the victory, Bowman's journey to the playoffs was sealed. Speaking about this, here's what he told Fox Sports after the Daytona race:

"Happy to see (Blaney) win, he’s had a ton of huge hits here. I don’t know what to say other than that. Just thankful that he won. The situation that we’re coming in here with, it’s tough. We crash in something that's outside of our control, and then you just have to sit and watch. Not fun for any of these guys. They all work really hard, and they deserve to be in it, and I’m glad that we’re in it.”

Alex Bowman's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, is leading the playoff standings with +26 points, ahead of William Byron (+26), another Hendrick Motorsports driver. Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing is in third place with +23 points.