Alex Bowman believes that the qualifying lap that would have put him on the pole position for the third race of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Pennzoil 400, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway should have counted.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick took the pole position for the third race on the 36-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Harvick took the pole position for this race by recording a top lap time of 29.914 seconds (180.517 miles per hour) around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) high-banked Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval in Las Vegas, Nevada in his #4 Ford in the race’s third and final qualifying session.
However, Harvick’s top lap time was not the best lap time recorded among the 12 drivers who competed for the pole position in this third and final qualifying session for the race. In fact, it was not even in the top two.
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Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott recorded the first and second fastest laps of this qualifying session in their #88 Chevrolet and #9 Chevrolet, respectively.
But it was ruled that they did not get to the start/finish line before the qualifying clock hit 0:00 before they started their final laps, the laps on which they recorded these two top times.
Bowman, however, believes that his lap should’ve counted, as the “official” clock that he was given still showed that there was time left when he started his final lap of the qualifying session, the one that ultimately ended up not counting. Elliott crossed the start/finish line behind Bowman and has not publicly commented about the matter like Bowman has.
Here is what Bowman had to say about the matter, according to Racing News.
"“It’s their sandbox and we play in it. But, it’s wrong. They don’t give us an official clock to look at. Because the official clock that they gave us, our lap counted. The fans enjoyed it. It adds element to it. But, it’s really frustrating. In my eyes, they’re wrong. They’ve made their fair share of mistakes and so have I. I could totally be wrong.”"
Bowman also voiced his frustration about the matter on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/AlexBowman88/status/1101655478558318593?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
With the lap times of Bowman and Elliott not counting, they are set to start tomorrow’s race in 11th and 12th place, respectively. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is set to join Harvick on the front row in second in his #11 Toyota.
Be sure to tune in to Fox tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the third race of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. How will Alex Bowman perform starting in a position that he does not believe that he belongs in, and how will his teammate Chase Elliott perform in a similar situation?