RICHMOND, Va. -- Alex Bowman had a faster car than Austin Dillon in the closing laps of Saturday's race at Richmond, but he couldn't get within reach of a win. His biggest hurdle turned out to be his lack of friends.
"Clearly we're not very popular through the garage with that last run (smiling)," Bowman said after the crossing the finish line in second place.
What did that reference? Bowman struggled to navigate through lapped traffic and chase down Dillon in the final 15 laps of the race after taking second place from Ryan Blaney.
One particular driver who caused problems for Bowman is not a full-time driver. Jesse Love, who made his fifth Cup start of the season for Richard Childress Racing, suddenly slowed in front of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Bowman responded to this by keying up his radio and saying that Dillon's teammate was manipulating the race.
"Well, the 33 (Love) was really fast and then stopped right in front of me for quite a while," Bowman said. "Which, I don't know, maybe his stuff fell off really quick.
"I was just really frustrated on the radio and sometimes that push to talk button just lets you vent a little bit. I think we just needed to be better."
The chatter on Love's team radio did not feature any blatant comments about blocking Bowman, helping Dillon, or any other form of manipulation.
The main comments came from team owner Richard Childress, who said, "don't get no trouble. Back it down." Childress made these comments as Love raced Erik Jones.
While Love became the focus of radio chatter, he was not the only driver who sparked frustration on the No. 48 team.
Bowman showed some frustration toward Shane van Gisbergen after the race and then crew chief Blake Harris told reporter Matt Weaver that he was disappointed in multiple drivers with how they raced Bowman in the closing laps.
"A couple had apparently been holding onto some stuff for a really long time," Harris said. "And they got their shot tonight to kind of make it difficult on us."
Regardless of Love's intentions or those of any other driver, Bowman missed out on a prime opportunity to win his way into the playoffs. As a result, he now heads to the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on the cutline.
Bowman has a 60-point advantage over Chris Buescher, the first driver out of a playoff spot. Yet, this doesn't give him any confidence.
After all, Daytona has featured multiple drivers from below the cutline upsetting the playoff field by winning. This includes Harrison Burton last season and Dillon in 2022.
All Bowman can do at this point is try to go out and win his way into the playoffs, much like teammate William Byron did back in 2020. He just will not expect to have any friends on the track apart from his Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
"Yeah, it's a must-win," Bowman said. "You can't take care of (the car) until the end because then you don't race and know what your car is going to do. I don't know.
"I don't know what we're going to do aside from try to win the race. We'll do the best we can at that. Know that we're going to get zero favors, but that's life."