Hendrick Motorsports No.48, Alex Bowman, has had a fall from grace for the upcoming qualifying session of the Daytona 500. The driver had six consecutive front-row starts in the famed NASCAR race, but his car failed the inspection prior to the Wednesday qualifying session. His team failed the inspection check not once but twice and has been penalized severely.

This penalty will see Bowman lose his wingman and crew chief, Blake Harris. Further, his team will be last in selecting the pit stalls for Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races. Bowman was not the only one to suffer a horror start to his Daytona 500 qualifying, as JGR’s No. 45 Tyler Reddick suffered a similar fate. It will be a tall order for Bowman and his team to make it to Sunday’s main event, as they are at a disadvantage with the penalties in place.

Bowman is up against the odds to make the final 40 for the Daytona 500

Just a year ago, Alex Bowman won his third Daytona 500 pole award, but this time around, things are looking bleak for the HMS driver. While the 30-year-old would have liked another pole award to his name, the tides seem to have gone against his wishes. Two failed inspections on Wednesday’s qualifying feature could well see him struggling to make the final cut of 40 drivers.

Luckily for him, his No. 48 did pass the inspection scrutiny the third time and was able to put out a qualifying attempt. However, his best run was only 17th best amongst the competition. To rub salt in the wounds of the HMS team, it was the two Ford cars making the front row for the Sunday race.

Joey Logano from Team Penske took the pole position with a lap time of 49.465. Whereas, Michael McDowell lost the pole by just 0.071 seconds. With the unique qualifying scenario for the Daytona 500, only Logano and McDowell will have secured starting spots. The remaining 3–40 positions are up for grabs during Thursday’s qualifying feature.

There was noise about Chevrolet cars lagging behind the newly designed Ford and Toyota. Interestingly, Bowman himself wasn’t feeling confident about the car going into qualifying on Wednesday.

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Alex Bowman underlined his concerns ahead of the qualifying

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One thing is certain, Ford and their brand new Mustang Dark Horse are the real deal going in the 2024 Cup Series season. Going by their showing at Wednesday’s qualifying round, they do have an edge over the Chevrolet and Toyota in terms of speed and the overall package their new car brings. While Bowman had a pretty good track record in the qualifiers, prior to the qualifying, he wasn’t sure about his Chevy machine.

Bowman said, “I don’t really know what to expect for tonight. Obviously, it’s a Hendrick Motorsports car and we’re down here to qualify, but without practice and without anything — different manufacturers with different bodies. Don’t really know what to expect. We’ll see how it goes. It’ll be fast or it won’t be.”

Looking at how dominant the Ford Mustangs were in the first round of qualifiers, it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel for Bowman and his Chevrolet ride. Especially after the penalty he and his term are serving.

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