"Poor execution on all angles": Alex Bowman laments Gateway struggles following frustrating P26 finish

Alex Bowman discussed his 'bummer' of a race at Gateway and outlined the No. 48 team's shortcomings. The Hendrick Motorsports driver described his experience as 'super frustrating' but remained focused on bouncing back at Bristol.

During Sunday's (September 7) Enjoy Illinois 300, Bowman began on the back foot with a P25 start. By race end, he ultimately fell back a spot and secured the worst result among the Hendrick Motorsports stable.

The 32-year-old driver came away from the race with a mere 11-point haul, as he currently sits 35 points below the playoff cutline. At the rate he's going, the No. 48 driver will have to win a race to make it to the Round of 12. Reflecting upon his result, Bowman had this to say,

"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 (Motor Speedway) and go to work.”

HMS Vice President Jeff Gordon weighed in on Alex Bowman's outing and called for better operations on the pit road. Bowman has gone winless this season, but has come close to achieving the feat twice.

The Tuscon native finished second in the penultimate race of the regular season at Richmond, adding to another runner-up finish early in the year at Homestead-Miami.

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Alex Bowman spots performance gap between HMS and Team Penske

Alex Bowman recently compared HMS and Team Penske's setup for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. The 32-year-old pointed out how the three-car outfit brings more pace to the 1-mile dogleg oval.

Penske drivers have essentially cracked the code to NASCAR's playoff format. Their drivers have ended up winning all three seasons in the Next Gen Era, with Joey Logano coming in as the victor twice, while Ryan Blaney was crowned champion in 2023.

"We've really struggled there [at Phoenix], but at the same time, we — to be blunt — just have a lot of work to do there, to catch the Penske cars. They're incredibly fast there," Alex Bowman said via Fox Sports.

Alex Bowman finished seventh in his last outing at Phoenix. He records an average finish of 16.4 at the track andwon a solitary pole back in 2016.

The last time an HMS driver won a title at Phoenix was in 2021, when Kyle Larson beat the regular season champion, Martin Truex Jr.