NASCAR officials had to display the red flag on Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway after a hard crash involving Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman.
The incident occurred on Lap 67 of the Cup Series race. Bowman was slightly behind cars racing four-wide for position. Austin Cindric on the bottom made contact with Cole Custer, who shot up the track and hit both Daniel Suarez and Bowman.
Suarez spun down onto the apron, along with Chase Briscoe, who spun after trying to avoid the crash. Bowman, however, slammed nose-first into the outside wall with such force that the No. 48's rear tires came off the ground.
The red flag is out at @MISpeedway after this incident involving multiple cars.@Alex_Bowman exited the No. 48 under his own power. pic.twitter.com/hP4HV8rbKN
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 8, 2025
Briscoe, Suarez, and Custer all drove away from the incident. Bowman unhooked his window net and climbed from the heavily-damaged Chevrolet. He walked to the waiting ambulance and headed to the infield care center.
"Yeah, that hurt a lot," Bowman told Prime Video's Kim Coon after exiting the infield care center. "That was probably top of the board on hits I've taken, and unfortunately, I've taken a lot of hits.
"...Couldn't really do anything but think, 'Oh s--- this is about to hurt really bad. Yeah, I hate that, I hate that for my team. It's been a rough two months.'"
NASCAR displayed the red flag as cleanup began at the 2-mile track. The crews cleaned up the fluids that came from the No. 48 Chevrolet, and they prepared the racing surface for a restart.
Bowman ended the day in 36th place while Custer ended the day in 35th place. This marked the seventh time in the last nine races that the Hendrick Motorsports driver finished 27th or worse and the second time due to a crash. His third DNF was due to an engine failure at Bristol.
This crash at Michigan will drop Bowman to unwelcome territory for the No. 48 team. He entered Sunday's race with a 45-point buffer to the playoff cutline. He left the track with only one point earned. This will put him on the cutline heading to Mexico City.