Alex Bowman is the latest driver to criticize last weekend’s Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas.
NASCAR’s latest Cup series race might have been a thrilling affair for fans but some NASCAR drivers were not happy with the racing on display there. One of the main reasons for dissatisfaction was the number of crashes.
Former F1 Champion and NASCAR debutant Jenson Button said that 40 percent of the race felt silly because of the crashes.
“40 percent of the race felt a bit silly” – Former Formula 1 champ Jenson Button critical of too many crashes at COTA
Now, the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 driver has joined in the criticism by saying that the way they raced at COTA was embarrassing. He seemed to put the blame on NASCAR for putting the driver in that situation.
“It’s such a box that we’re all in. It’s so dumb how we have to race each other. It’s not OK by any means. But it’s what we do. It’s somewhat embarrassing, but at some point, you’re here to finish well for your sponsors. It’s a matter of losing 10 spots. You can’t be the one clean guy at the end,” Bowman said.
“Yeah, the problem is if you don’t peek out and bomb the guy in front of you, the guy behind you does it to you. What are you going to do there, right? It’s not right. The way we race is embarrassing. If 12-year-olds were doing it, we would be yelling at them, but here we are saying it’s the best, and we’re all on TV.
But, in the end, Bowman didn’t suffer much from the crashes as he finished 3rd in the race, behind winner Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch.
“We didn’t have anything for the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick), but we had a good No. 48 Ally Camaro. Just need to be a little better. We have some malfunctions inside the race car that we have to work on to be better for the next hot day, but we’ll just keep digging. Proud of all my guys,” Bowman said.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece was also dissatisfied with the race and even called out drivers for lack of respect, something Busch has also said in the past.