NASCAR News: Alex Bowman frustrated as Cup Series comeback dealt brutal blow

Hendrick Motorsports star Alex Bowman couldn't help but feel frustrated after his NASCAR Cup Series comeback was cut short through no fault of his own.

Prior to Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Bowman had missed the last four Cup Series races due to vertigo, having first experienced symptoms such as dizziness and throwing up on himself at COTA in March.

In that COTA race, Bowman was forced to step out of the car and be replaced, and his day ended early once again at Bristol, but thankfully, this time, it was nothing health related.

Instead, on this occasion, Bowman was sidelined after being wrecked in stage two, with John Hunter Nemechek having swerved into him as he himself looked to avoid a spinning Shane van Gisbergen.

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Alex Bowman frustrated after Bristol wreck

Speaking after the accident at Bristol, Bowman revealed that he had felt good in the car, and for that reason, he was not happy with his day ending so early.

“I felt good," Bowman said. "I’m frustrated right now, right? Bristol (Motor Speedway) is one of my favorite racetracks and we just missed it.

"At the same time, it’s nice to be back in the racecar. I appreciate everyone’s support and definitely thankful to be back.

"We really need one good week to start getting the ball rolling in the right direction again.

"Honestly, I thought this could be a really good one for us, even after qualifying. I think this is a good place for us, historically, but we just didn’t have it today.

"Hopefully we can get things pointed in the right direction next weekend at Kansas.”

What went wrong for Bowman?

Despite it being one of his favorite tracks, Bowman had qualified 27th on Saturday, and was running deep into the pack when the aforementioned wreck occurred.

So, what went wrong for the No. 48 team and their pace this time out?

“I don’t know if we kind of just misjudged it, being in Group A [in practice]," Bowman explained. "I thought we were OK in practice, but to start the race, we were in trouble.

"It’s a bummer that we didn’t get a chance to work on it. I know Blake [Harris, crew chief] and this No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team would have liked some pit stops to try and make the car better and get going back in the right direction.

"We were just struggling, and then got caught up in somebody else’s mess. I hate it for this team, but we’ll move on to the next one.”