Hendrick changes Bowman's pit crew in effort to rescue playoffs run

Hendrick Motorsports has made changes to Alex Bowman’s pit crew after two rough weeks to start the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. 

The two tire changers, carrier, and jackman will be different on the No. 48 team for Saturday night’s elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Those joining Bowman’s team, per the roster portal, are Daniel Bach (front changer), Rod Cox (rear changer), Jarius Morehead (carrier), and Cody French (jackman). They come to the team from Spire Motorsports and the No. 77 team of Carson Hocevar.

Hendrick Motorsports supplies pit crew members to Spire Motorsports.

“I guess we’ll see,” Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman, told RACER about making changes after Bowman finished 26th at World Wide Technology Raceway. Bowman sped on pit road in the final stage, which came after the team had a slow pit stop earlier in the race when the car had to be jacked up a second time on the left side.

In the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, Bowman finished 31st. Among the issues was the air hose not being connected for a pit stop, which resulted in it taking 40 seconds and dropping Bowman off the lead lap.

“[My] guys are really fast,” Bowman told RACER. “They look really awesome in all the metrics, and they work really hard. It’s just the ones that blow up are really bad. It’s unfortunate. We've got to go to Bristol and keep working at it.”

Bowman is in danger of being eliminated from the postseason with Saturday night’s race at Bristol. He is 35 points below a transfer spot entering the weekend.