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NASCAR CUP SERIES: HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400October 18, 2020Alex BowmanKansas City, Kansas THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alex Bowman, our third‑place finisher. We'll get right to questions for Alex. Q. Are you happy with a top three run, your best run since Darlington, or are you frustrated because you lost points on the cutoff? ALEX BOWMAN: I'm just here to get top fives because you told me I wasn't getting enough top fives, Bob. No, I mean, I think it's obviously a really good day for us. We didn't have the car that we hoped to have. We struggled with it quite a bit today. Still got good stage points. Didn't really have the speed we wanted to have. But our last couple changes really got the car dialed in. We needed a little bit longer run there at the end. I think we were the fastest car, just kind of ran out of laps. Happy and sad, a little bit bummed we lost points. A little bummed Joey won. That makes my life harder over the next couple weeks. I feel like we had a really good day. I'm really proud of my race team. A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the Playoffs. We're still here fighting. We're still bringing really fast cars to the racetrack each and every week. Q. I'm trying to understand what drivers view about races like today. You had Harvick who had a faster car, couldn't get by Logano because he didn't win the race off of pit road. That's been the package for the last couple years. Have you accepted it and that's how racing is or do you feel like guys still come away with races like that and they're privately saying screw this package? How do drivers view it? ALEX BOWMAN: I'm just happy I have a job and get to drive racecars for a living. I think it is somewhat frustrating that it comes down to blocking for an entire run. I think we're all on the same package, right? We're all race car drivers. Most of us would go race lawn mowers if NASCAR said they were switching to lawn mowers next week. I think for us, we're all just trying to do the best job we can with the package we have to race. That's part of this package. On a cold day like today, it really brings out that element of it. Yeah, I mean, I wish it was easier to pass when you're a faster car. Maybe not easier, but maybe less easy to block. That's just part of the package. We're all trying to maximize it the way we need to. Q. Was there any concern when Kurt Busch's engine went away, since he also has a Hendrick powerplant? Have they been able to use any of the ECR components yet in the cars y'all are using for the Playoffs? ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, so I didn't even know the 1 car had an engine issue. That's a bummer for sure. Our engine shop does a great job. Yeah, that's a bummer. I don't know exactly what parts and pieces we've used or haven't used yet. I know everybody is doing a really good job of working together. Chevrolet is doing an awesome job kind of helping us all work together. Proud of everybody at the engine shop. I think this week was a step in the right direction. I think we were definitely it seemed a little better on restarts. We're headed in the right direction. Everybody is definitely working really hard. Q. Does this team have a little bit of a chip on its shoulder? You say with a smile almost every time you come on, Nobody expects us to be here, nobody thought we would still be here. Is that what fuels this team, kind of at times maybe a lack of respect? ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I use that as a lot of motivation personally. I love it. Honestly, like, if people want to motivate me, just talk crap about me on the Internet. It works pretty well (smiling). Yeah, I mean, I do think my team is a little bit undervalued. They're one of the best race teams in the garage. They make up for me not being very good at some of these places, give me some pretty great racecars to drive. Yeah, I mean, I think we definitely have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. I think those last couple laps go a little bit differently and we could very well be going to Phoenix to race for a championship. I feel like we're right there, right where we need to be. Everybody is doing a really good job. Q. How proud are you of the fact that you did make it, are still here with a fighting chance? You didn't hurt yourself today. ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. It's crazy to think about coming in, like, 17 points back and running third, getting stage points, now being 27 points back. That's a little wild. Yeah, I'm really proud of our race team. The summer was really rough. We were able to switch it on a couple weeks before the Playoffs. Ever since then we've been firing on all cylinders, bringing great racecars to the racetrack, executing really well. Bristol and Talladega we had some issues. Other than that, really, really good each week. Really proud of my race team. Q. You were running up near the top 10 all day, not battling for the lead. What put you over the edge to close in at the end? ALEX BOWMAN: We were really loose all day honestly. Didn't have a lot of right rear grip. Entry to both ends was really sketchy for the most part. Just had to calm the car down. Couldn't get it into the corner very hard. We just tightened up and tightened up all day. We finally got it to where I could run about wide open up top, which helped me build a lot of moment and run them down there at the end. Yeah, just really all day fought rear grip. Finally got the rear grip we needed in the race car at the end. Could have used a little bit more, but we got it much better over the course of the race. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex, for taking the time to join us. We'll see you at Texas. ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks. You guys have a good one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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