The Hendrick Motorsports driver came into the 160-lap race on the bubble and needed to muster a good enough result to stay above the cut-off line or win his way into the Playoffs.
Bowman’s cause looked like it was helped considerably when Tyler Reddick – one place ahead in the standings – tangled awkwardly with Todd Gilliland on Lap 19 coming out of the final corner.
The #34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang spun through the asphalt on approach to pit lane while Reddick in the #45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry nosed into the SAFER barrier.
Despite serious damage to the nose of his car, Reddick continued and did not lose a lap to the leaders.
Racing resumed on Lap 24 but just three laps later, chaos unfolded.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano got pinched between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch. The #23 Toyota Camry and the #8 Chevrolet Camaro spun simultaneously across the nose of the #22 and all hell broke loose.
Wallace went spinning through the tri-oval and several more wrecked on the front stretch, including Bowman, who collided with Busch.
Several drivers, including Alex Bowman, get caught up in a MASSIVE wreck late in stage one! 😳
📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/5YdHUdDT8Q
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 24, 2025
Bowman drove his car back to the pits in a shower of sparks. His car swerved wildly with suspension damage, which ultimately ruled him out of the contest.
“Welcome to superspeedway racing, unfortunately,” said Bowman.
“Really proud of my Ally 48 team for the year up to this point we’ve had. The last 10 or 11 weeks have been pretty special and yet we haven’t won.
“We’re in a tough spot for the rest of the night but regardless of the outcome, I feel like it’s out of our control and it is what it is at this point.
“We’ll wait and see how the race ends up and kind of go from there. Regardless, we’re going to be hitting hard, the next 10 weeks and trying to get a win whether we’re in the Playoffs or not.”
The crash for Bowman locked Reddick into the Playoffs.
Bowman said he’ll watch the rest of the race with baited breath to see whether he advances to the Playoffs.
“You have to [watch]. There’s no way to get away from it,” he said.
“While I have certainly stayed off social media, I am going go sit in front of a TV and watch.
“Bummed for Hendrick Motorsports, everybody that works so hard to not have a shot at it here tonight. It was going to be tough, whether we were in it or out of it.
“Unfortunately, we’re on the sidelines watching and we’re going to find out in a couple of hours.”
Other drivers taken out in the wreck included Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Riley Herbst, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wallace took the blame for the incident.
“I hate that. I’ll take the blame for it, unfortunately. It’s just a crap deal,” said Wallace.
“Everything was going too good too early to be all true, so something was bound to happen. I hate that we were involved in it.”
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