Alex Bowman Promises Ryan Blaney 'Seven Million Beers' For Saving His Season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One NASCAR Cup Series driver celebrated Ryan Blaney’s victory Saturday in the regular-season finale at Daytona.

Alex Bowman.

Bowman, who crashed out about 2.5 hours before the finish of the race, had to sit and watch and hope for a driver who had already won this season to win, which would keep open the final playoff spot for a winless driver.

So when Blaney earned his second victory of the season in a wild finish with six of the seven drivers behind him not having won this year, Bowman could celebrate making the playoffs.

What does he owe Blaney?

"Seven million beers," Bowman said.

Bowman might have been exaggerating a little as he admitted his hands were shaking throughout the final laps when winless drivers Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer all led over the final 10 laps.

After crashing out, Bowman spent the next two-plus hours in his hauler watching the race with his crew members.

"It’s been sh--ty" Bowman said. "It's not a good time to be me. I don't want to let my team down. They've worked really hard. They've done a lot of really good things. And the situation that we're in coming here, it's tough and we crash, and then something that's outside of our control, and then you just have to sit and watch.

"It's not fun for any of these guys. So they all work really hard, and they deserve to be in it. And I'm glad that we're in it."

With 14 winners this year having locked up spots in the 16-driver playoff field coming into Daytona, the top-two winless drivers — Tyler Reddick and Bowman — came into the race on the bubble. If no new winner, both would advance. If there was a new winner, Bowman would have had to rally from a 29-point deficit to Reddick.

Bowman said he and crew