Alex Bowman among big-name drivers with final shot at NASCAR’s Cup Series playoffs bid

NASCAR driver Alex Bowman always showcases plenty of speed at Daytona International Speedway.

He now seeks a little bit of luck at the iconic track to secure the final spot in the Cup Series 16-driver playoffs after five straight years reaching the postseason.

Bowman is due some good fortune as the regular season wraps up at Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.

The 30-year-old suffered a fractured vertebra in an April 25 sprint car accident in April and missed four races. On April 2, NASCAR docked Bowman and William Byron 60 points and 5 playoff points for illegal modifications to their cars.

Bowman now arrives this week 20th in the standings and “in a must-win situation,” he said, at a track where few cars have been faster in recent years. He captured his third pole for the 2023 Daytona 500 to extend his record of consecutive appearances on the front row.

This past February he finally cashed in with a career-high fifth-place finish at the storied speedway. He followed with top-10 finishes during five of the next six races before the penalty and injury struck.

“That’s tough to have everything going well,” Bowman told the Orlando Sentinel. “Seemed like the beginning of the year we couldn’t really do anything wrong. Now we’re struggling to do things right.

“That’s just part of racing. There’s a lot of ups and downs, but we’ll all keep after it and try to make it work out this weekend.”

Bowman, a seven-time Cup Series winner, is not the only big-name driver on the playoff bubble.

Bubba Wallace sits 14th in the points race to lead the pack vying for the final postseason berth.

“I would be devastated if we didn’t make the playoffs,” he said. “I hate that we haven’t had a win this year to lock ourselves in yet.”

The 29-year-old’s two Cup Series wins came during the 10-race playoff stretch in 2021 and 2022. He aims to join Byron, who won the 2020 Coke Zero 400, as drivers to surge into the postseason with an 11th-hour victory at speeds pushing 200 mph.

Wallace has come close to reaching victory lane at Daytona International Speedway, finishing runner-up twice in the 500 and to Ryan Blaney in the 2021 Coke Zero 400.

Joining Wallace and Bowman in the battle for the final playoff spot are 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who has missed six races with a broken leg and another following suspension, 2022 Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric, rising star Ty Gibbs and three former Coke Zero 400 winners, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola and Erik Jones.

“No one is safe until the race is over with,” Wallace said. “Everybody’s fighting for the same real estate.”

This potential for high-stakes drama at a 2.5-mile oval known for wild finishes and unlikely winners led decision-makers to move the summer race from the July 4th week to the regular-season finale in 2020.

“They’re trying to promote chaos, right?” Bowman said. “That’s what it’s going to do. You’ve a lot of really good guys that are collectively really aggressive on the outside looking in.

“So it’s it’s gonna be a show for sure.”

The change was a shock to the system to Daytona diehards, but fans have warmed up. Ticket sales, while not shared publicly, are on record-setting pace, track president Frank Kelleher told the Sentinel.

“There’s so many fans and families that just had the traditions of being here Fourth of July weekend,” the said. “But this race has delivered. It’s not just another race on the schedule.

“This race is going to make or break someone’s season.”

A highly favorable weather forecast, including a meager 10% rain chance, bodes well for a race that has often contended with Mother Nature.

In 2022, rain postponed the Coke Zero 400 until Sunday. Dillon then sat on the lead during a weather delay of more than three hours before he prevailed during the final two laps over Cindric.

Meanwhile, Blaney turned just enough laps in his battered No. 21 Ford Mustang to hold off 31-time Cup Series winner Martin Truex Jr. for one of the two available postseason spots.

“It’s definitely a nail-biter for the guys that are on that bubble, but it’s also a big opportunity for guys that are on the outside looking in,” Truex, a three-time winner in 2023, told the Sentinel. “They have a chance in one of the biggest wild-card races of the year to shake things up and get into the playoffs — one last shot. If I was out of the playoffs and we were going to Daytona I would be excited.

“A lot of guys look at it that way.”

While Bowman’s focus is winning Saturday night, he arrived to Florida’s Surf Coast with a heavy heart after he recent death of his dog Roscoe. Roscoe (a beagle mix) and Finn (a Labrador retriever) stole the show when they joined their master by his No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL soon after he took the Daytona 500 pole.

Add heartbreak to Bowman’s list of tribulations as he pushes to make the most of what has been a lost season.

“With everything that’s happened this year … I don’t think it’s a very accurate representation of us as a race team,” he said. “So we’re gonna go down there and try to get a win. But even if we don’t, there’s still 10 more chances to get wins this year.

“We’re going to keep digging regardless.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com