Hendrick Motorsports Ace Alex Bowman Blames the Playoff Format Amidst Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR Insinuation

It is safe to say that some NASCAR drivers are not overly fond of the current racing style. Denny Hamlin, in particular, was pretty upset about how drivers are becoming increasingly aggressive on the track. This is largely prevalent in the late stages of any race, and it often results in late wrecks. Ahead of the Cup race at the Richmond Raceway, Alex Bowman spoke about Hamlin’s concern about the driving standards.

He said, “Well I think the Playoff format has a lot to do with that. We’ve seen that over the course of the year, we’ve seen people spin people out at the end of the races. Then get pretty physical at the end of the races for a long time. I think there’s some new guys in the series that are extremely aggressive.”

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In all honesty, they do have a right to be concerned. Especially since the Next Gen cars are still new, and spare parts are scarce. Also considering that NASCAR has grown fairly strict about modifying car parts, drivers and teams have to be extra careful. So, many drivers can ill afford to act like a human wrecking ball on the racetrack.

Are Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman justified?

Bowman continued, “Like everybody knows how aggressive Ross [Chastain] is at all times. AJ [Allmendinger] is an aggressive guy too. So I don’t think it has necessarily changed as much as Denny thinks. If you had to put a finger on it, it would be the Playoff format. Just how much winning matters, and sometimes you can overcome those guys hating you for that trophy.”

Not to mention, the new parts will be horribly expensive. So teams cannot afford to waste money on constantly buying spare parts, just because the drivers got too crash-happy. Sure, this does not mean that drivers have to be on tenterhooks around each other. Close racing will always be encouraged, but drivers have to ensure that they don’t get carried away in the heat of battle. Otherwise, one wrong move can spell disaster for one or all drivers involved in the crash.