NASCAR mailbag: When Dale Earnhardt Jr. returns, what happens to Alex Bowman?

Each Wednesday SB Nation’s NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a mailbag question email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

What’s going to happen with Alex Bowman when Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. returns? Alex has proven he can drive if he’s with the right team and he’s helped Hendrick [Motorsports] out a ton. So it doesn’t seem right that he’s going to end up without a ride. Why couldn’t Dale put him in one of his Xfinity Series cars full-time as thank you?

--Brett

If there is something positive that’s come from Earnhardt’s absence it’s the emergence of Bowman, who’s taken full advantage of the situation and shown he has the talent deserving of a full-time seat with a team in a top-flight organization, be it Hendrick or elsewhere.

Unfortunately for Bowman, as it often does in NASCAR, it comes down to a big team in need of a driver and having the sponsorship in place to put a deal together. And right now there is a dearth of both.

Hendrick already is at the four-team cap, therefore it cannot expand even if it wanted to. And a lack of sponsorship precludes Bowman from signing with a different team for 2017, as the other powerhouse organizations don’t have the funding in place to bring on another driver.

Landing a fulltime ride with the Xfinity team co-owned by Earnhardt, Rick Hendrick and Earnhardt’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt-Elledge, is also not a straightforward solution. This too requires appropriate funding, something JR Motorsports, like almost every other Xfinity team, doesn’t have in abundance. A point emphasized by the fact JRM’s 2017 lineup consists entirely of three drivers, Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett and Elliott Sadler, who all brought sponsorship with them to secure their seats.

The likeliest option for Bowman next season will likely mirror what he had before Hendrick tabbed him as Earnhardt’s primary substitute: He’ll drive part-time for JRM, while grabbing a Sprint Cup spot start on an as-needed basis. It’s not ideal, nor what Bowman deserves, but it’s a plight many young drivers encounter.

I saw your tweet about Alex Bowman not only leading more laps than Kasey Kahne, who’s made fewer starts, but that Kasey hasn’t led a lap all season. It seems obvious to me that Hendrick should swap Kasey out for Alex. Instant upgrade! Kasey is an underachiever and Alex deserves the shot.

--Tommy

A sound idea, but one that unravels when you take into account a couple of key factors. First, Kahne signed a contract extension with Hendrick through the 2018 season, and though contracts are often broken it would be unusual for a team of this stature to make a decision of this nature this late in the year.

Secondly, in spite of Kahne’s recent struggles -- he hasn’t won a race since Labor Day weekend 2014 and failed to qualify for the playoffs in successive years -- Hendrick has rather steadfastly supported his driver. That backing has started paying dividends, as Kahne’s performance has improved considerably as of late with seven top-10 finishes in the past 11 races.

Now, if Kahne in 2017 reverts to the form he exhibited for a large part of the past 18 months, and Bowman is still available, then you might see Hendrick cut bait. But going forward, Kahne is the driver of the No. 5 car and will remain as such going into next year.

How does what happened Sunday affect Joe Gibbs Racing and the relationship between Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth? I know it wasn’t intentional, and I would think Matt realizes this too, but I can’t imagine he’s really happy right now. His teammate played a part in starting a wreck that caused him to crash and cost him a title.

--Randy

No ramifications. No fallout. It’s just business as usual for a team that’s shown it knows how to deftly deal with the complicated dynamics that come when you have four drivers who run up front and routinely challenge for wins,

What should help smooth any lingering resentment is that Kenseth isn’t blameless for the accident that led to his playoff elimination. Ultimately he decided to jump to the bottom immediately when he could’ve stayed up high and possibly gotten a good run off Turn 2, then power away. He chose otherwise, and it proved to be the wrong decision.

Thus, while it was admirable of Busch to accept responsibility and offer a genuine apology, he didn’t do anything wrong. Bowman threw a block on him into the first corner, leaving Busch with little recourse to pop the rear bumper of the No. 88 car, which propelled Bowman underneath Kenseth, who didn’t realize Bowman was suddenly to his inside.

By definition, it’s a racing accident; merely a byproduct of the aggressiveness which occurs on almost every restart any given week -- especially a late-race restart with championship implications.