The #17 Hendrick Motorsports part-time entry in the Xfinity Series will compete in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. Behind its wheel, this time will be 31-year-old Alex Bowman. The HMS driver has been having one of his most consistent seasons in the Cup Series but has yet to find the victory lane. Could the Xfinity Series ride give him an edge over his premier-tier contenders on this front?
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He hopes it does. Talking to the press recently he underlined his expectation to get “additional insight” from the Xfinity Series race and use it in the Cup Series race. His words went, “Hopefully those extra laps on Friday and Saturday will help me gain some additional insight on the track before Sunday’s race. Our Ally Racing team is working diligently to try and put the #48 back in the victory lane.”
The No. 17 @hendrickcars Xfinity car is hitting the track again this weekend. This time @alex_bowman is behind the wheel. pic.twitter.com/58WmW5KGIh
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) June 19, 2024
The New Hampshire short track is one where Bowman has found below-moderate success. He has just one top-10 finish in 12 appearances. But what he has in his corner is momentum and astonishing consistency. He is currently tied with three other drivers for the most number of top-10 finishes in 2024 (10). Noteworthily, he came in eighth place last weekend at Iowa after starting at 33rd.
He sits 66 points above the playoff cutoff line currently and is not in a spot as bad as some other drivers. But seldom can be taken for granted at this stage of the show and he’d be better off securing victory in one of the upcoming nine regular season races. The #17 car will meanwhile be dreaming of getting back to the victory lane as well after Elliott took it there in Charlotte earlier this year.
Why Alex Bowman wanted to drive the #17 car at New Hampshire and not anywhere else
As much as simulations help, real-world track time is where a major part of racing improvement happens. And Bowman is aware of this. It was with the knowledge that he wasn’t running well in New Hampshire that he chose it as his destination to pilot the #17 Xfinity Series car. Revealing this information, his crew chief Blake Harris stood behind the decision.
He said, “He chose it because he wants to get better there. I think it will be good for him to get some laps in the Xfinity car, especially with the short practices, any lap time you get around those places is great.”
“He’ll be able to see the evolution of the track on Saturday in the Xfinity car. So, when we go rolling Sunday, I think we will have a pretty good idea of how we need to approach it.”
