Alex Bowman Threw Phone in Pool After Learning of DQ; Phone Called 911
Last week was already a rough enough story for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, who saw his NASCAR Cup Series Playoff run come to an end in heartbreaking fashion with a post-race disqualification following the Playoff elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
While that is rough, it pales in comparison to the chain of events that transpired for the 31-year-old driver in the aftermath of his championship hopes crushing evening at the Charlotte ROVAL.
It took nearly three hours for NASCAR to complete post-race inspection following last Sunday's race. With the event taking place in Concord, North Carolina, most drivers were a stone's throw away from their homes. Like others, Bowman immediately left the Charlotte Motor Speedway for his home once his post-race media obligations were completed.
While at home, Bowman received an unfortunate call from his crew chief Blake Harris, who explained that they had issues in post-race inspection. After that call, Bowman saw a post on X, talking about his disqualification from the race and subsequent elimination from the Playoffs pop up on his phone, and he knew he was about to have an onslaught of notifications in relation to his disqualification. Bowman didn't want to hear any of it.
"I proceeded to throw my phone in the pool, and my phone proceeded to call 9-1-1 and tell them I was in a car crash, so, my Sunday night wasn't very good, if I'm being honest with you," Bowman explained to media in a scrum session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Bowman continued, "So, it hit the bottom of the pool, and I walked away. And 20 minutes later, I'm like, 'Okay, I should probably get my phone out of the pool.' Because, you know, iPhones are waterproof so it's like you're throwing your -- and when I say throw, I just kind of tossed it when I walked inside. Because I knew my phone was about to start blowing up, and I really didn't want to see any of it at that point, right? Luckily, your phone doesn't have service from the bottom of the pool. So, nothing came of it, but it tried,
"I guess they have a new thing where they like report that you've been in a car crash if the phone feels something. So, that happened. It's a true story."
Going forward, if Bowman doesn't want to see notifications on his phone, he'll likely go the route of physically turning the phone off instead of tossing it into the pool. But this isn't where the story of Bowman's post-disqualification unfortunate events ended.
"Honestly, it gets even better than that. The next morning, I walked out into my garage, and one of the windows on my car was cracked because of the temperature change or something, I guess. I don't know. I didn't throw my phone at the car, it was in the pool," Bowman chuckled.
To cap the rough luck week off, Bowman then had maintenance issues with his house this week as well.
"And then, my roof was leaking, and I had to get my roof fixed this week. It's been a week, man," Bowman shrugged.
While the last week has been tough, Bowman will look to turn his rough luck around in the city where luck is more important than anywhere else in the world -- Las Vegas. If Saturday's on-track activity was any indication, Bowman's luck seems to have improved since last week as he flashed speed in practice and qualifying for Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In Saturday afternoon's practice session, Bowman secured the 10th-fastest lap with a 29.693 seconds (181.861 mph) lap. Bowman followed that up by advancing to the final round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, where he locked up the third starting spot for Sunday's race.
Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas
While he's no longer in the conversation for the NASCAR Cup Series championship, Bowman will look to avenge the heartbreaking end to his Playoff aspirations at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
The NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is set for Sunday, October 20. The race will be televised on NBC, and can be streamed from the NBC Sports App. TV coverage will kick off at 2:30 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.