Getty Alex Bowman celebrates a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When Alex Bowman won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 6, Kyle Busch made some very angry comments over the radio. Now the driver of the No. 48 Ally Racing Chevrolet Camaro has turned the comments into a new t-shirt.
Bowman turned heads on March 7 with the new design, which plays into the Las Vegas theme. The front features a recreation of the iconic sign with new text. “Alex Bowman. All Luck. No Skill” takes a prominent place while dice with the Alex Bowman Racing logo roll underneath. The rear of the shirt features the text “backing into wins” as a direct reference to Busch’s comments.
“The same f****** guy who backs into every f****** win that he ever f****** gets, backs into another f****** win. Bulls***!” Busch said over his radio on March 6 after crossing the finish line, transcript courtesy of The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.
Like previous t-shirt designs, there will be a portion of the proceeds that go to support animal shelters. Bowman chose the amount of 18%, which coincides with the number on the side of Busch’s Toyota Camry TRD.
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These ‘Driver-Inspired’ Shirts First Surfaced in 2021
There were multiple moments during the 2021 season that inspired new t-shirts from the Bowman shop. The first took place during the trip to Richmond Raceway on April 18, 2021. The No. 48 dropped to the rear of the field during the final stage of the Toyota Owners 400 due to an uncontrolled tire penalty, but Bowman worked his way back through the field with one of the fastest cars on the track.
Bowman’s spotter, Kevin Hamlin, joked over the radio that nobody likes him up on the spotter stand, which prompted a laughing response from the Cup Series driver. “Ha! Nobody likes me down here,” Bowman said as he made his way through the field.
The jokes did not end with this one conversation. Hamlin also made fun of Bowman’s victory burnout after he passed Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano for the win. “Get over it. Nobody likes us anyway,” Bowman said in response.
These two interactions ultimately inspired the creation of the “Nobody likes us anyway” line of merchandise. However, another moment on the track on October 31, 2021, inspired a second t-shirt.
Following contact at Martinsville Speedway that sent the No. 11 into a spin and out of contention for the win, Denny made some strong comments about Bowman. “He’s just a hack, an absolute hack,” The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said after the race to NBC Sports. “He gets his a** kicked by his teammates every week. He’s just f****** terrible. He’s just terrible, and he sees this one opportunity and he takes it. He has the fastest car every week, and he runs 10th.”
Bowman heard the comments and used them to create the “Hack” t-shirt that featured his autograph and the ABR logo. He sold them at the end of the season and donated a portion of the proceeds to animal shelters.
The New Shirt Designs Are a Change for Bowman
With Bowman releasing a new shirt based on some angry comments, he continues to showcase a change in his career. He used to shy away from certain situations, but now he embraces the angry comments from his fellow drivers. The reason, as he explained, is that his primary partner showed its unrelenting support when he took over the No. 48 Chevrolet.
“Yeah, I would say I’m still pretty shy,” Bowman told Heavy during a sitdown ahead of the trip to Las Vegas. “But I think the biggest thing is just having a partner that lets me be myself. Ally has really embraced me for who I am and kind of let me just be me.
“They’re not asking me to be somebody else or do things that I’m super uncomfortable with or shutting me down on everything that I want to do. They’ve just been really awesome to work with.”
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