NASCAR viewers were left confused after NBC was seemingly fooled by a prank played on Alex Bowman’s radio by his Hendrick Motorsports team.
Bowman qualified ninth in his No.48 Chevrolet, but had to fix his passenger-side window while leaving pit road to enter the track. His spotter, Kevin Hamlin, spotted a chance to have some fun with a playful idea before the heat of battle started.
“We’ve got to go to the back for delaying the start,” Hamlin told Bowman, who replied in disbelief: “Are you kidding me?”.
Hamlin quickly came clean, admitting: “Yeah, I’m f—— with you. All good”. But that last message appeared to have been lost somewhere.
Those watching on NBC’s USA Network were told that the No.48 had been sent to the back of the field.
That was not the case, however, as fans noticed Bowman starting on the fifth row as planned, without any further explanation from broadcasters.
Bowman is still fighting for his playoff life, entering the race 60 points above the cutline. Before the recent Brickyard 400, he admitted not feeling comfortable about making the postseason.
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“You know it’s a speedway race and road courses in there and stuff. I think it can definitely be tough. So, just trying to be on the right side of things.
“Obviously, a win would solve all of our problems, but we’re back up to ninth in points and kinda pointed back in the direction that we should be after what was a rough couple of months.
“The last month or so we’ve been doing a lot of the right things, and I’m just glad to have some progress in the right direction.”