"Nerve-wracking": Alex Bowman candidly speaks on his emotions, watching his playoff destiny unfold 

Alex Bowman has revealed how he felt watching the race at Daytona and whether he now feels he has something to prove. The Hendrick Motorsports driver entered the last race of the regular season winless and 16th in points, a tricky spot.

After an early exit from the race because of a wreck, Bowman was in a position where, had there been a new winner, he'd been out. But fortunately for the #48 driver, it was Ryan Blaney who won the race, ensuring his playoff berth in the process.

In a media availability session ahead of Darlington, Alex Bowman was asked what was going through his head in the last few laps at Daytona. It's worth mentioning that before Blaney went from 13th to 1st in the last two laps of the race, several drivers who hadn't won, like Justin Haley and Cole Custer, were in the mix.

"Nerve-wracking for sure, but at the same time everything that we’ve been able to do this summer and as strong as we’ve been able to run… obviously you want to be in the playoffs, but when it’s that much out of your control and there’s nothing you can do, you also can’t let it absolutely ruin your year if something outside of your control happens. So that was kind of the mindset going down and kind of the mindset that we carried through that," Alex Bowman said. [00:25 onwards]

Peter Stratta

@peterstratta

.@Alex_Bowman says he *slightly* exaggerated owing @Blaney 7 million beers, saying he can't afford that by not winning this year. In all seriousness, Bowman says the 48's performed very well this year minus a few crashes and is optimistic for a deep run despite being the 16th

Having said that, he claimed he felt neither relieved nor more stressed ahead of the playoffs. Bowman said it was not a relief for him because he now has to get right back to work as he's in a high-pressure situation again, which requires him to perform "each and every week."

When asked whether he feels he has something to prove, Alex Bowman said he does and he doesn't. He claimed it'd be amazing to win a championship with a team that he feels is definitely a contender right now.

"We’re going to do all we can to make it happen. But I don’t drive race cars to prove anything to anybody anymore. I’m here to do my job for Hendrick Motorsports and to go perform at a high level every week."

Alex Bowman says no change in preparation for playoffs despite recent inconsistent stretch

A top 5 at Dover, a couple of top 10s at Indy and Iowa, followed by a 20th place finish at Watkins Glen, a 2nd place finish at Richmond, and a DNF at Daytona, Alex Bowman heads into the playoffs with a series of inconsistent results.

But despite that, Bowman claimed his team had decided not to change anything. He claimed he had been preparing "at a high level" for the last eight months and intended to carry forward with that.

"So while it’s certainly not like a ramp up, because we’re already there, we’re just kind of going to work… business as usual," he said.

When asked about his thoughts on Darlington, Alex Bowman claimed he'd like to win the opening race of the playoffs. But he also admitted it hadn't been the best place for him.

Since his switch to the #48 team, Bowman has had zero top 5 finishes at Darlington, with his best result being an 8th-place finish last spring.

He claimed that the biggest thing at Darlington was to avoid mistakes and "letting the rest happen."