CUP: Alex Bowman’s return from symptoms of vertigo sees him end up 37th after heated last-place battle
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Bowman’s car with an odd stance as he goes to the garage after a mid-race wreck. (SCREENSHOT: From video by Noah Lewis, @Noah_Lewis1)
Alex Bowman picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway when his #48 Ally Chevrolet crashed after he completed 163 of 505 laps.
The finish, which came in Bowman’s 365th series start, was his first of the season and first in a cup Series race since June 8, 2025 at Michigan, 29 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 28th for the #48, the 704th from a crash, and the 884th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 38th for the #48, the 1,451st from a crash, and the 2,035th for Chevrolet.
Bowman was one of the big stories leading into Sunday’s race, which marked his first start COTA, where symptoms of vertigo caused him to be sick in the car. In an interview this past week, he felt so dizzy that he worried it would mean the end of his career. Serving as last-minute relief driver at COTA was Myatt Snider, who at the time was working as Jamie Little’s pit spotter for FOX Sports. Snider brought Bowman’s car home next-to-last in the 37-car field, continuing a rough start that had seen Bowman finish 40th and 23rd in the opening two superspeedway events in Daytona and Atlanta.
The Wednesday after COTA, when word broke that Bowman would be missing multiple races for the third time since 2022, Anthony Alfredo was announced as his relief driver for Phoenix. There, Alfredo battled into the Top 10 before he was collected in a crash. Justin Allgaier then ran the following three races leading into last week’s off-weekend, yielding a best of 22nd his last time out in Martinsville. While reports first indicated Bowman would be out through Bristol, it was announced the Thursday before Bristol that Bowman was cleared to return one week early. The intense demands of Bristol’s high banks and high speeds would put Bowman’s treatment to the test. It would also see him return to one of his best tracks, where he’d won two poles and scored three top-five finishes in 17 previous starts.
Bowman was one of 37 drivers entered for Sunday’s field, and he kicked things off with a solid 16th-place showing in opening practice with a best of 44 laps coming in at 15.497 seconds (123.818mph), ranking him ahead of two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. He’d roll out 12th for qualifying, where he ended up back in the order in 27th despite a slightly faster lap of 15.368 seconds (124.857mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Chad Finchum, whose #66 Brian King Roofing Ford for Garage 66 was the lone “open” entry in the field. Despite the added challenge of the current high horsepower and low downforce package, Finchum’s lap of 15.711 seconds (122.131mph), was just 0.098 second off the next-slowest car of Cody Ware in the #51 Costa Oil Chevrolet, and just six-tenths off Ryan Blaney’s pole.
Finchum would be joined at the back by William Byron, whose #24 Valvoline Chevrolet struggled with speed, balance, and even a heavy sensation through both practice and qualifying. Byron ended up just 34th in qualifying, causing the team to change the steering rack and incur a tail-end penalty. This dropped Byron to the tail end of the outside line, which kept Finchum in last as he trailed behind the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford of Todd Gilliland, who started to Byron’s inside. “Well have some fun today,” said Finchum’s spotter. “I think we’ve got a good piece – we can race with these guys.”
When the green flag dropped, Finchum remained in last place, 3.502 seconds back of the lead to Byron and Gilliland’s tie at 3.279. On Lap 2, Finchum looked to the outside of Gilliland, but couldn’t get by, the tried it again on Lap 3, where he started to gain an advantage entering Turns 1 and 3. By Lap 4, Finchum had pulled ahead into Turn 1, but Gilliland fought back for the next lap, during which Gilliland stayed just ahead of Finchum at the line. On Lap 5, Gilliland beat Finchum to the line by just 14-thousandths of a second - a 6.406 to a 6.420. By Lap 6, Finchum was back in line, watching as Cody Ware found himself in the middle of a three-wide battle with Byron to his outside and Gilliland down low. Byron cleared Ware first, followed by Gilliland, causing Ware to drop in front of Finchum.
Over the next several laps, Finchum remained within two-tenths of Ware for the 37th spot. On Lap 19, when the gap increased another tenth, Finchum radioed he had “no bite,” and on Lap 22 was lapped by race leader Ryan Blaney through Turns 3 and 4. Byron remained trapped in 34th when he lost a lap off Turn 2 on Lap 38. On Lap 58, Finchum was running the high lane off Turn 4 when Connor Zilisch moved to his inside in the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, trying desperately to stay on the lead lap. Zilisch’s move opened the door for Blaney, who put Finchum a second lap down.
On Lap 62, the first caution fell for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. spinning the #6 Consumer Cellular Ford of 22nd-place runner Brad Keselowski. Both cars remained on the lead lap. Finchum explained he could only run in the high lane as it was too much of a fight to run low. He also expressed amazement at Blaney and Kyle Larson’s pace, feeling as though the two drivers were the only ones on the lead lap. “The 12 (Blaney) is good, and the 5 (Larson) is driving away from him,” said Finchum’s spotter. “Of this thing stays green, he’ll lap the whole field.” Finchum took the wave-around, so he was now one lap down for the Lap 71 restart.
Then on Lap 77, while battling Ware off Turn 4, Finchum suddenly dropped off the pace and pulled to the apron. “Something feels like it’s broke on the right-front,” he said. “As soon as I got in the corner, the wheel just popped and it snapped right.” He made it to pit road under green with some smoke noticed by the spotter. The crew worked under the hood and sent him back out on Lap 83, six laps down, only to incur a penalty for too many crew members over the wall. But on Lap 87, Finchum again said, “something does not feel right. . . this thing is wandering all over the place here.” He returned to pit road for a second, much longer stop, where the crew unbolted the right-front wheel and examined the suspension. Team owner Carl Long told the crew to also check the left side, but they couldn’t figure out the issue.
On Lap 93, Long told Finchum to pull behind the wall and meet the team at the hauler. But NASCAR stepped in and directed him to the “DVP Zone” in the infield, which was an open space in the middle of the infield between the two facing banks of haulers. He made it there by Lap 97, and further explained his issue from earlier: “The whole wheel, like in my hand it just popped.” On Lap 108, Finchum’s car was on jack stands, and the crew looked behind the right-front wheel once more. There was also talk of something that had come loose, and needing to move a hose. On Lap 126, someone on the team said “the bushings are just completely gone.” This work continued through the caution that came at the end of Stage 1, at which point Finchum was 47 laps down. Long called for more tools, then directed his crew’s attention to a space near the right-front brake caliper. On Lap 132, Finchum’s on-board camera for HBO Max was shut off. The team’s work continued, and on Lap 149, Long said a bushing from the sway bar had come loose. They’d be ready to return to the track, but told Finchum to pull back in if the car still felt unstable.
Finally, on a Lap 152, just before the restart following Christopher Bell’s spin in the #20 Rheem Toyota, Finchum pulled back on track, joining the tail end of the field as they came off Turn 2. By then, Bell had taken the 37th spot. A pit road speeding penalty had sent Bell back in the order, where he slid into the Turn 4 wall and damaged the right-rear suspension, sending him into the spin that drew the day’s third caution. Finchum said the car felt better and continued onward in 38th – just before a multi-car accident drew the race’s fourth caution.
On Lap 160, Shane Van Gisbergen spun his #97 WeatherTech Chevrolet in Turn 4, which collected John Hunter Nemechek’s #42 Dollar Tree Toyota. Behind Nemechek was Bowman, who ran into the #42, but was spared being rear-ended by a slowing Todd Gilliland. By Lap 166, Van Gisbergen had pulled his car into the DVP Zone that Finchum had just left while Bowman and Nemechek were on pit road receiving repairs in adjoining stalls off Turn 4 – Boman in Stall 19 ahead of Nemechek in Stall 20. With damage to the lower part of his car’s nose, Bowman was first of the trio to return to the track on Lap 168, showing between 7 and 8 laps down in 34th. Nemechek held 35th, showing 11 laps down, one lap ahead of 36th-place Van Gisbergen. On Lap 173, Bowman joined Van Gisbergen in the DVP Zone for further repairs, followed by Nemechek, who pulled to the Turn 1 end of pit road on Lap 196. This placed the three cars together – Van Gisbergen to the left of Bowman with Nemechek to Bowman’s right. Either Van Gisbergen or Nemechek – or both – reported NASCAR required they replace their bent rear bumpers, which promised to be a lengthy repair.
By Lap 205, Finchum had lost just two more laps since he returned from his own trip to the garage, now showing 73 laps down and still in last place. He had already made up about half his deficit to the trio who were receiving repairs:
LAP 205
34) 48-Bowman -41L (OFF - DVP)
35) 42-Nemechek -45L (OFF - DVP)
36) 97-Van Gisbergen -46L (OFF - DVP)
37) 66-Finchum -73L
On Lap 216, it appeared that Bowman was returning to the track as his car rolled toward the Turn 1 exit onto the track. But the engine hadn’t fired, and the crew pushed his car back toward the team’s hauler, which they reached on Lap 228. Bowman became the first driver out of the race, but still held the 34th spot at the time. Meanwhile, Finchum caught and passed Van Gisbergen and Nemechek by Lap 235, dropping Van Gisbergen to last place, and was already within four laps of climbing past Bowman into 34th, which he did on Lap 240. This order remained the same on Lap 251, when the caution fell to end Stage 2.
Back in the DVP Zone, Van Gisbergen’s crew spent the caution discussing further adjustments they’d make once they returned to the track. They also focused their repairs on the left-front corner. On Lap 256, Nemechek’s crew completed repairs to the left-rear and were still working on the rear bumper. Both were still in the garage area on Lap 272, by which point Finchum had lost another two laps to the leaders, showing 75 laps down:
LAP 272
34) 66-Finchum -75L
35) 48-Bowman -107L (OUT)
36) 42-Nemechek -111L (OFF - DVP)
37) 97-Van Gisbergen -112L (OFF - DVP)
On Lap 313, when the caution fell after Riley Herbst sent Kyle Busch into a spin, where he was struck by Erik Jones, Van Gisbergen’s crew reported they were within five minutes of returning to the track. Three laps later, on Lap 316, Nemechek’s crew said they were also nearly done, and were fixing the last couple bolts onto the bumper. At the same time, Van Gisbergen’s crew dropped the hood, removed a tear-off, then briefly jacked up the car on the left side. On Lap 318, Van Gisbergen fired his engine and returned to the track 158 laps down. He quickly made up his one-lap deficit to Nemechek, dropping the #42 to last place on Lap 320. Around Lap 325, Finchum pulled behind the wall for a second time and on Lap 331 was declared out with steering issue. This was followed on Lap 338 by the now last-place Nemechek re-firing his engine and returning to the track through the same Turn 2 exit Van Gisbergen had used. Nemechek, too, had only a few laps to catch Bowman, so on Lap 342, Nemechek climbed to 36th, dropping Bowman to last place. Nemechek was still 18 laps behind 35th-place Van Gisbergen, but both were closing fast on the now-retired Finchum for 34th:
LAP 345
34) 66-Finchum -103L (OUT)
35) 97-Van Gisbergen -160L
36) 42-Nemechek -178L
37) 48-Bowman -184L (OUT)
On Lap 409, Van Gisbergen climbed past Finchum into 34th. Nemechek got past Finchum for 35th around Lap 421. Neither gained any more spots, even after Connor Zilisch had his own brief stay in the DVP Zone following a late-race wreck. Zilisch took home 33rd, 27 laps down to the leaders.
Gibbs scores first career victory, Gilliland impresses with strategy
Sunday’s race saw Ty Gibbs score his first career Cup Series victory in his 131st series start, breaking the record for the longest streak of any Joe Gibbs Racing driver before their first Cup win. The race had been dominated by both Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson until Gibbs stayed out on old tires on a late caution, then survived a series of restarts that pushed the race into overtime. It’s already Gibbs’ third top-five finish and fifth Top 10 in just seven career Cup starts at Bristol.
Not far behind, Todd Gilliland rallied from his early last-place battles with Chad Finchum to take a 6th-place finish, marking his best run of the season and only the second time he’s finished better than 21st all year. It was also his first top-ten finish in Cup since his 9th-place showing at Martinsville last fall.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #48 in a Cup Series race at Bristol.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #48-Alex Bowman / 163 laps / crash
36) #66-Chad Finchum / 241 laps / steering
35) #42-John Hunter Nemechek / 324 laps / running
34) #97-Shane Van Gisbergen / 335 laps / running
33) #88-Connor Zilisch / 478 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing (2)
2nd) Hendrick Motorsports, Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (2)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
