Denny Hamlin Stunned by Alex Bowman's Michigan Crash - 'Big Lick'

Newsweek

11-06-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Denny Hamlin has reacted to Alex Bowman's crash during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. Hamlin was surprised by the intensity of the incident and described it as a "big lick."
Five drivers were involved in the crash that brought out the red flag. Contact between cars No. 41 and 2 triggered the incident. Cars No. 99, 48, and 19 weren't spared either. Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe were the affected drivers, and fortunately, all escaped unharmed.
However, Bowman crashed hard, which prompted him to admit that it was the "biggest hit" he had experienced in a stock car. Newsweek Sports reported his statement after the crash:
Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, pits after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 01, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, pits after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 01, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee."It happened so fast that I didn't even see them. I didn't know who hit me until I saw the video. It's always turbulent in the 300th. It's crazy back there. It gets wild and that is part of racing. It's wild all through the field.
"Unfortunately, the further back you get, the less downforce cars have, the dirtier the air, the situations you're in, and the worst everybody stuff drives. So stuff like this tends to happen."
He added:
"I feel okay. It was the biggest hit I've ever taken in a stock car by a mile. Head-on into the wall at Michigan, it's gonna be that way. Try to go get them next week."
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
Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast that he knew the crash was serious since he wasn't allowed to go past the "crime scene." He said:
"Major. I knew it had to be a big lick, because they wouldn't even let us go through this crime scene. The caution came out for us, I think I was somewhere on the back stretch, and we were stopped right after the start-finish line.
"So, at that point, when it goes red that quickly, I'm like, 'Oh, must've had a big one.' I point myself out to look at the screen to see the replay, and I was like, 'Whoa, that was a big hit.'"
When the NASCAR veteran was asked about the impact of the crash and the pain that comes from such crashes, he said:
"You certainly feel it more so the day after and the following days. Like, for instance, my wrist from Daytona - I think it's still not right from where it was. Like, I'm so old now, it's like, will it ever be right again? It just sucks to put any kind of pressure on it.
"It's just, I think it's different for everyone. People recover differently. But yeah, I mean, head-on impact like that. Certainly when the Next Gen originally came out and it was solid as a rock, you know, before they started cutting up the roll cage and all kinds of stuff to get the impacts a little bit softer, you know, that could've been a way worse wreck than what it appears that it resulted in."