DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One NASCAR Cup Series driver celebrated Ryan Blaney’s victory Saturday in the regular-season finale at Daytona.
Bowman, who crashed out about 2.5 hours before the finish of the race, had to sit and watch and hope for a driver who had already won this season to win, which would keep open the final playoff spot for a winless driver.
So when Blaney earned his second victory of the season in a wild finish with six of the seven drivers behind him not having won this year, Bowman could celebrate making the playoffs.
What does he owe Blaney?
“Seven million beers,” Bowman said.
Bowman might have been exaggerating a little as he admitted his hands were shaking throughout the final laps when winless drivers Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer all led over the final 10 laps.
After crashing out, Bowman spent the next two-plus hours in his hauler watching the race with his crew members.
“It’s been sh–ty” Bowman said. “It’s not a good time to be me. I don’t want to let my team down. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve done a lot of really good things. And the situation that we’re in coming here, it’s tough and we crash, and then something that’s outside of our control, and then you just have to sit and watch.
“It’s not fun for any of these guys. So they all work really hard, and they deserve to be in it. And I’m glad that we’re in it.”
With 14 winners this year having locked up spots in the 16-driver playoff field coming into Daytona, the top-two winless drivers — Tyler Reddick and Bowman — came into the race on the bubble. If no new winner, both would advance. If there was a new winner, Bowman would have had to rally from a 29-point deficit to Reddick.
Bowman said he and crew chief Blake Harris shouted at the television during the final laps as Blaney made a monstrous run.
“We were talking about dumb stuff trying to lighten the mood,” Bowman said about being in the hauler. “And then that last restart happened, and it was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re in a really terrible situation right now.’
“I’m certainly glad it worked out how it did.”
That looked possible when Reddick spun and his nose tapped the wall just 18 laps into the race. He was able to continue and nine laps later, Bowman got collected in a big crash that ended his race.
He spent the next couple hours in his team transporter watching the race with his crew members.
The Hendrick driver had entered the race ninth in the series standings and after the crash knew his playoff hopes were on the brink. He had started second but got shuffled to the back and felt that partly set up him being in the position he was to get collected in the accident when Bubba Wallace got turned.
“I really don’t know what to think until the race is over,” Bowman said after the crash. “I don’t get super high and I don’t get super low, either. I’m kind of somewhere in the middle.
“I’m frustrated that we didn’t stay up front, keep our track position, that we started with, frustrated that we crashed.”
Afterward, Bowman admitted he was more relieved than excited. He said he has felt gassed in the last month.
“I’m relieved,” Bowman said. “It has been such a stressful string of races. I would say Indy on has been just this incredible amount of stress.
“I don’t want to say pressure, because [team vice chairman] مثل جيف جوردون ، “يا رجل ، لقد أعدت كل ما تستطيع وأي شيء سيحدث.” لكن من جانبي من الأشياء ، أنا مثل ، علينا أن نجعل التصفيات اللعينة. علينا أن نفعل هذا. مثل ليس لدينا خيار “.
أما بالنسبة إلى Reddick ، لم يكن يعرف ماذا يفكر. شعر أنه ارتكب خطأ في الحادث ويعرف ما إذا كانت هذه الأخطاء مستمرة ، فلن تدوم طويلاً في التصفيات.
وقال ريدديك ، الذي فاز بلقب الموسم العادي قبل عام: “ليست هذه هي الطريقة التي نريد أن ننطلق بها من الموسم العادي”. “لدينا عمل نفعله. نحن جميعًا قادرون على ذلك. لقد كان الأمر صعبًا. نحن نستمر في ارتكاب أخطاء وليس الاستفادة.
“الآن علينا أن نضع كل شيء معًا عندما يكون الضغط في التصفيات. … علينا تنظيفه”.
في حين أن هذين السائقين هما الفائزون الكبار يوم الأحد ، كان هناك أيضًا بلاني ، الذين عرفوا أن هناك العديد من السائقين من حوله يحتاجون إلى فوز ، لكنهم لم يشعروا بأي تحركات جريئة للغاية لمحاولة إجراء التصفيات.
لم يكن Blaney يعرف في ذلك الوقت أن هناك سائقًا يهتف كبيرًا لكي يفوز.
وقال بومان: “ريان هو رجل جيد ، وأنا سعيد برؤيته يفوز”. “لقد حصل على الكثير من الزيارات الضخمة هنا. لا أعرف ماذا أقول بخلاف ذلك. أنا ممتن فقط لأنه فاز”.
عندما اكتشف بلاني ما قاله بومان حول ما يدين به بلاني ، قال بلاني إن بومان لا يدين له 7 ملايين بيرة.
وقال بلاني “سأوفر له بعض المال وأخذ 5 ملايين”. “سآخذ هذا العرض.”
بوب بوكراس يغطي NASCAR و IndyCar لـ Fox Sports. لقد أمضى عقودًا في تغطية رياضة السيارات ، بما في ذلك أكثر من 30 دايتونا 500s ، مع عمل في ESPN و Sporting News و NASCAR Scene Magazine و (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. اتبعه على Twitter @بوبوكراس.
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