Alex Bowman raced with heavy heart at Gateway after heartbreaking loss of beloved dog Finn

Alex Bowman finished P2 behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson on Sunday in the Enjoy Illinois 300. Bowman was overcome with emotion following the race, revealing that he raced at Gateway with a heavy heart after the passing of his best friend, his dog, Finn. Dave Burns from USA Sports was the first to Bowman on pit road following the race. It was clear from the start that the driver of the Ally No. 48 car was emotional. With tears streaming down his face from behind his sunglasses, Bowman talked about how tough the weekend was. If you’ve ever owned a pet, the reaction was visceral. To have loved and lost your pet is such a different level of sadness. And that was apparent. It was clear how much Finn meant to Bowman. And what a toll Finn’s loss took on him. “Yeah, I’m super happy for Kyle,” said Bowman. “It’s a really hard weekend just to get on the plane and be here. “I had a little extra help today. So yeah, ready to go home, but I’m proud of everybody on this Ally 48 team for helping me through the weekend. “Life is hard sometimes. Yeah, I lost my best friend, so ready to go home.” ‘I had some help’ Asked if he was racing for Finn today, Bowman said he received some help from Finn today. Bowman said that he’s happy for his teammate Kyle Larson, who snapped a 51-race winless streak and moved up to No. 2 in the Chase standings in the process. “Yeah, I mean, I suck here, so clearly I had some help. You just never want to see your best friend suffer, and unfortunately the end was pretty bad. “That was really difficult, but man, I’m just proud of this Ally 48 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. And I’m really proud of Kyle for winning. “I know it’s been a while for him, and it’s great for this team and the Chase and everything. It was a good day for us Bowman said he didn’t want to race today In a separate interview with Tim Moore, Bowman said he didn’t want to come to Gateway this weekend, but he had to. He doubled down on the extra help from his late best friend. “I mean, it’s just a race. I don’t know that it was like we have to go run good. I just felt like I had to come do my job, and I just tried to do that. “With what went on on Friday night, I didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t have a choice. I was here, and I just tried to do my job, and I’ve sucked here for a long time. So clearly had a little help.”