Alex Bowman may not have stockpiled wins like his teammates Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, or William Byron, but he has shown quite a consistency in both speed and progression across various types of tracks. His quantum leap into Hendrick Motorsports traces directly back to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who first spotted his potential.
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In 2016, when Junior’s injuries sidelined him for an extended stretch, he pushed Bowman’s name forward to drive his No. 88 HMS machine. Bowman subsequently filled in for Jeff Gordon to secure his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports seat. During a recent conversation with HOT ROD Pod, Bowman credited Dale Jr. for opening doors at Hendrick Motorsports, while acknowledging his good fortune.
His Cup Series tenure dates back to 2014, though his first campaign saw him piloting a No. 23 Toyota for BK Racing, a smaller outfit. The following season brought a shift to Tommy Baldwin Racing. Neither stint produced meaningful results, leaving Bowman searching for traction.
Reflecting on that watershed moment, Bowman recounted the sequence of events. “I qualified next to Dale at like Richmond, I think, and we were riding around the truck pre-race together, talking about I was trying to get in some good Xfinity cars at the end of that year and have some good races cuz running for small teams was definitely rough.”
“He had some openings at JRM the end of that year that I was able to get into. Kind of took off from there.” The stars aligned when Junior’s injury created an unexpected vacancy. “So obviously, crazy set of circumstances, with him getting hurt. I was driving the Sim for Hendrick at the time. Dale was a big supporter of mine and called me and kind of forced Hendrick to use me…”
“I feel like, because we all found out so late. But super fortunate to get to fill in for him and then share the car with some guy named Jeff Gordon for the rest of the year, which was wild to me. And somehow I’m still here.”
Bowman’s most recent Cup win came at the Chicago Street race in 2024, marking one and a half seasons since he last tasted victory. But across nine campaigns with HMS, he has missed the playoffs just once, in 2023, when a back injury sustained during a sprint car accident forced him to sit out three races.
Last season presented challenges as well. Though winless, the 32-year-old recovered a 13th-place finish in the final standings. His best performance last season came in Mexico, where he competed despite nursing injuries from a crash at Michigan International Speedway the previous weekend.
Racing at less than full strength in NASCAR’s inaugural Cup Series event in Mexico City, Bowman clawed from P29 on the grid to P4 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, claiming his third top-five result of the year.
Gordon and the entire HMS operation maintain faith in Bowman’s abilities and ceiling. But only the upcoming season will bring answers to their confidence as Bowman adapts to the new Chevrolet body and higher horsepower.
