Disregarded HMS Driver Vents Out 7-Worded Frustration to Rick Hendrick & Co. as He Declares Himself ‘Helpless’

NASCAR never lacks drama, and Kansas was no exception. After a chaotic day on the track, Alex Bowman didn’t hold back, venting his frustrations in a raw, unfiltered rant that touched everything from on-track aggression to mirror-driving backmarkers. Now, any driver would be content with a good points day and a top 5 finish on a sketchy track like Kansas. But, at Hendrick Motorsports, mediocracy isn’t celebrated, and Bowman very well understands the demands of representing NASCAR’s winningest team.

Last year, there was real drama surrounding Bowman’s future at HMS. Despite his win in Chicago, the rumor mills worked overtime, speculating on a potential replacement. It reached a point where Bowman himself had to clear the air surrounding his future within the organization. “That rumor has certainly been annoying. Obviously, my contract is through the end of 2026. All I can tell you is like what my bosses have told me, and that is that there are no plans to change anything.” But now that his teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron are picking off wins for fun, he is feeling the heat to match their strides.

Is Alex Bowman’s ride secured beyond 2025?

The ugly part of racing for a decorated team like Hendrick Motorsports is that you are going to be compared with your teammates. Kyle Larson’s dominant run at Kansas saw him leapfrog his teammate William Byron at the top of the point standings. Both the HMS drivers have notched up multiple wins and secured their spot in the playoffs. But, Bowman, who felt he was in contention to win the race on Sunday, is still searching for his first win. And the antics by Denny Hamlin further riled him up after the race.

Hamlin waved off Bowman after making a pass on him during stage 2, and the HMS driver snapped, “Tell him to put his hand back in the window and don’t drive me in the f—– fence next time.” Well, the JGR driver received instant karma as his No. 11 Toyota had to retire due to a failed clutch and mechanical woes. But the damage was already done. Not just Hamlin, but the HMS driver lost his cool at lap cars and other drivers as well. When asked about the reason behind his rant on the radio, he stated, “a lot of pressure to go run well.“

“There is a lot of dumb stuff going on, and I think, for me, just a lot of pressure to go run well and contend for wins. Last month we’ve had really fast race cars that, we haven’t been able to show it because of a lot of things that have been really outside of our control. So, when we were as fast as we were before that stage break and then just get driven in the fence on restart like its really, really frustrating so from then out I was really mad because I had the best race car, I’ve ever had here at Kansas and now has half as much rear grip and half as much front grip and did everything worse.” He explained.

Alex Bowman on why he was so angry today before finishing fifth. @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/SXAWdUgFUl

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 11, 2025

He even took shots at Riley Herbst, as he felt that his progress was hampered by them and kept him at bay from registering his first win of the season. “Yeah. I mean his dad’s still is named after him, it’s just I don’t know what we’re doing. That was pretty frustrating, but just onto the next one, right? I’m mad because we had a really good car and we didn’t get to show how good it was, but we still ended up with a Top 5 and onto the next one.”

As it turns out, the real antagonist behind Bowman’s fiery rant was not Hamlin or Herbst, but rather Zane Smith, who delivered the final blow that kept him from winning the race.

Bowman is proud to finish on a high after multiple battles in Kansas

Hamlin didn’t directly impact Bowman’s on-track performance, and while Herbst tried to play spoiler, the damage on the #48 car was already done. “Super fast, got run into the fence, less fast but still kinda fast. Grumpy meter maxed out over here but proud of the team for a top 5 with so much damage.” The HMS driver shared this on X. Now, the contact he is referring to isn’t from Hamlin or Herbst, but Zane Smith.

Now, Bowman and Hamlin were racing each other hard during stage 2, and Smith saw the opportunity and tried to thread the needle, which resulted in a three-wide. On a track like Kansas, the outside car often found itself on the receiving end of the stick, and that is what happened with Bowman. The #38 Ford Mustang pinched the #48 Chevy, and the contact resulted in Bowman brushing the wall and sustaining damage to his car. But despite being at a disadvantage, he did finish strong with a P5 finish and was able to get the better of both Hamlin and Smith.

The good news for the #48 team is that after the Kansas race weekend, they find themselves eighth in the points standings and 74 points above the cutline. So there’s reason to be optimistic if you are an Alex Bowman fan, as the next 14 races he will have enough opportunities to race his way into the playoffs.

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