Ty Dillon offers to explain 'what tight and loose means' to Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman probably is glad Ty Dillon isn't entered in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
That's because Dillon is none too pleased with Bowman after Saturday's XFINITY Series race at the 1.058-mile track.
The two were battling for position on Lap 77 of Saturday's AutoLotto 200 when Bowman's No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet got pinned near the outside wall and then appeared to turn down into the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevy of Dillon, causing Dillon to wreck.
Bowman, who was making just his fifth XFINITY start of the season, will also drive the No. 88 car in Sunday's New Hampshire 301 Cup race, subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Hendrick Motorsports as Earnhardt sits out because of concussion-related issues.
"It's probably my fault for being back there with a guy who doesn't get to race very much, and he showed why," Dillon told NBC Sports during the television broadcast of the event. "I'm very frustrated. I mean, he's beyond the corner and down the straightaway, and he just turned left.
"I feel like he's pretty lucky he's still on the racetrack and not in the garage with me. I'm pretty upset right now. It's not how you race. You don't turn people down the straightaway. I don't know what to say because I don't have anything good to say, except for I'm glad he's not around right now."
Bowman did not sound very apologetic after recovering from the incident and going on to finish eighth in the race. But he did insist that he didn't wreck Dillon intentionally.
"You definitely never right-rear somebody intentionally," Bowman told NBC after the race. "I hate that I put us in that box.
"He drove me way up the racetrack. He obviously got tight underneath me and I had a ton of wheel in it to the left, and he drove me up the racetrack, up the racetrack. It finally caught and I barely came off the wall. You come off the wall six inches and you tag somebody in the right-rear.
"So I hate that for the 3 car. It's unfortunate. But I definitely didn't do it intentionally. He can think what he wants, but he'll get over it someday. I definitely didn't mean to do it."
Told that Bowman said his car had trouble turning and that was part of the problem, Dillon remained unimpressed.
"Seemed like it turned left pretty good down the straightaway once I was past him," Dillon said. "Maybe he needs to figure out what tight and loose means. Maybe I can explain it to him."
