LAS VEGAS (AP) — Few people in motorsports had as crummy a week as Alex Bowman, who left Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks ago celebrating along with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in claiming four of the eight spots in NASCAR's semifinals.
Then he was disqualified when his car failed to meet minimum weight guidelines — news confirmed to Bowman by a social media post he saw scrolling on his phone while already back at his North Carolina home.
He promptly threw the phone into his pool, which triggered an emergency call to 911 as the phone settings indicated Bowman was in danger. The disqualification cost Bowman 20 points and eliminated him from the playoff field just as the Arizona native was hoping to reach next month's championship race at his home track of Phoenix Raceway.
The final spot in the playoff field then went to two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who left Charlotte thinking he'd been eliminated from a shot at a third title.
Things didn't improve for Bowman: The window on his passenger car had been broken and he discovered a leak in his roof that needed repair.
“It couldn’t happen to anybody else that way. Just a part of life,” said Bowman, who needed a long career climb to earn his shot to replace Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevrolet with NASCAR's top team.
Even after making the playoffs, Bowman has been forced the last two months to defend his seat and note he is under contract to return to Hendrick in 2025 with the full backing of sponsor Ally.
Now Ally is upset: Andrea Brimmer, the chief marketing officer, noted she was “gutted” for Bowman and the team that has "fought for every point this year and deserve to be moving forward.”
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway over the weekend, Bowman watched Hendrick teammates William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson continue their quest for the championship without him. Bowman finished a respectable fifth — one spot behind teammate Byron — but the final insult was still to come.
Logano won the race.
So the guy who left Charlotte believing he'd been eliminated from the playoffs is instead the first of four to advance to the Nov. 10 winner-take-all championship race. One of only two two-time active champions in NASCAR, Logano has a shot at moving ahead of Kyle Busch as the only three-time active Cup champion in the sport.
Logano was already at home with his wife and children in North Carolina when he learned Bowman was having difficulty passing tech. He called her Sunday from victory lane in Las Vegas to revel in his change of fortune.
“She’s like, ‘Do you believe one week ago at this hour?’ I come walking out of our bedroom, and I said, ‘You’re not going to believe this (expletive).’ Here we are a week later. I told her, ‘You ain’t going to believe this, that we won this one.’ So excited about the opportunity ahead of us.”
NASCAR heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway and then Martinsville Speedway in Virginia to determine the final three championship contenders. “Even Year Logano” — his first two titles came in 2018 and 2022 — will coast through the next two weeks with Team Penske and his No. 22 crew looking only toward the title race.
“Our focus now moves forward to Phoenix. The next two weeks don’t really matter,” Logano said. “It’s the advantage that we earned. We know what that advantage is worth. It’s a worth a lot. Our focus (starting Monday) will be on Phoenix, job to finish.”
As for Bowman? Well, he's not sure how to feel about the final three weeks of the season.
“It’s one of those that’s probably going to sting for a while and depending on how the rest of the season goes, it will probably determine how quickly I do or don’t get over it,” Bowman said. “Some things in life, you don’t get over but have to figure out how to move on with your life and keep digging from it.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Alex Bowman drives out of Turn 3 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Alex Bowman's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week capped by Logano making NASCAR's title race
Alex Bowman's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week capped by Logano making NASCAR's title race
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man whose execution was abruptly halted last week after lawmakers ordered Robert Roberson to appear at the state Capitol did not show up as scheduled Monday, following objections to transporting an inmate from death row for the extraordinary purpose of testifying before a public committee.
Roberson had been set to become the first person in the U.S. executed over a murder conviction connected to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. He was taken to America's busiest death chamber last Thursday but a last-ditch effort by lawmakers to buy Roberson more time stopped his execution at the eleventh hour.
Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody, the chairman of a state House committee that led efforts to stop the execution, said at the start of the highly anticipated hearing that Roberson likely would not appear but that lawmakers still hoped to do so soon.
The Texas Attorney General's Office had told lawmakers that Roberson would only appear by videoconference, which Moody said would be “poorly suited” for Roberson because he is autistic.
“That doesn’t mean Robert won’t testify at all,” said Moody, without saying when Roberson might testify or how.
Robeson's claims of innocence are backed by a group of Republican and Democratic legislators who say he was convicted based on outdated science.
Once Roberson testifies to lawmakers, prosecutors could seek a new execution date at any time, according to Gretchen Sween, one of his attorneys.
Lawmakers have sought to have Roberson transported from death row to appear in person, raising the possibility of an extraordinary scene in the Texas Capitol. However, the state attorney general's office told the committee he would appear virtually.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's office said the Texas Supreme Court should throw out the subpoena, writing that the House committee has “stepped out of line” in their first public statement on the case.
Rebuffed by the courts and Texas’ parole board in their efforts to spare Roberson’s life, legislators last Thursday subpoenaed Roberson to testify in an unusual tactic to buy him more time. Lawmakers on the House committee have expressed frustration with Texas' junk science law, which they say has failed to work as intended, including in Roberson's case.
The 2013 law allows a person convicted of a crime to seek relief if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. At the time, it was hailed by the Legislature as a uniquely future-proof solution to wrongful convictions based on faulty science. But Roberson’s supporters say his case points to faults in the judicial system where the law has been weakened by deliberate misinterpretation from the state’s highest criminal court.
In the last 10 years, 74 applications have been filed and ruled on under the junk science law. A third of applications were submitted by people facing the death penalty. All of them were unsuccessful.
Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, has previously told the committee that a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson’s attorneys presented their new evidence to a judge, who rejected their claims.
Roberson was sentenced to death for the killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in 2002. Prosecutors argued the infant's death was caused by serious head trauma from being violently shaken back and forth. Roberson's attorneys say that the bruising on Curtis' body was likely due to complications with severe pneumonia and not child abuse.
Almost 90 lawmakers across party lines, medical experts and best-selling author John Grisham had called on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to stay his execution. Abbott has not commented on Roberson's case and the Texas parole board rejected pleas to grant clemency.
Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Texas state representatives Lacey Hull, left, and John Bucy III comment during a press conference after the stay granted by the Texas Supreme Court to halt the execution of Robert Roberson, at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas State Penitentiary, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Huntsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Jennifer Martin, left, and Thomas Roberson, older brother of condemned prisoner Robert Roberson, right, holds signs as they protest outside the prison where Roberson is scheduled for execution at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas State Penitentiary, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Huntsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Texas man whose execution was halted by subpoena set to testify to lawmakers
Texas man whose execution was halted by subpoena set to testify to lawmakers
FILE - Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, Sept. 27, 2024. (Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP, File)
