CONCORD, N.C. – Slowly finding his groove in his first season driving the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Alex Bowman quietly earned a top-10 finish in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Overall, it was a solid night for the seemingly struggling Hendrick Motorsports organization.
Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson led the four-car team with a fifth-place finish, while Bowman earned his fourth top-10 result with ninth and Chase Elliott narrowly missed a top-10 with an 11th place run. Rookie William Byron crashed out early in the race.
While producing top-10 finishes on short tracks, a superspeedway and now an intermediate track, there is some relief for the No. 88 Nationwide Insurance team, but Bowman and his team aren’t necessarily satisfied halfway through the regular season.
“Yeah, for sure, to qualify 27th and finish ninth it was definitely a good night,” offered Bowman after the race. “Greg (Ives, crew chief) made good calls from on top of the box and our car was much better than it had been all week. Happy for that”
Bowman ran as high as sixth on Sunday night, but his impressive march from his deep starting position was equally impressive. While Bowman battled a loose race car during the day, he wrestled a tight No. 88 Chevrolet as the track transitioned to night.
Fighting through the adjustments, however, Bowman climbed through the running order and maintained a top-12 presence throughout the final stage. Strong service from his pit crew ultimately played a factor in his first top-10 finish since an eighth at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway a month ago.
Bowman was appreciative.
“I feel like it was way more pit crew than anything,” added Bowman. “My pit crew they killed it on pit road all night. They did a great job and got us a couple of spots on that last green flag stop. Extremely proud of those guys.”
Of course, Charlotte Motor Speedway has been relatively kind to Bowman. Last October, he scored his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win driving for Chip Ganassi Racing — now a top-10 finish in Cup driving for one of the powerhouse organizations – but with the ROVAL set to descend on the team in three and a half months, Bowman will have to wait until next year for another shot.
“I really like this place, so hopefully when… well I guess we are coming back to the ROVAL, so it doesn’t really matter, but hopefully next year we run a little better here.”
Heading to Pocono Raceway, Bowman idles 14th in the championship standings, looking to better a 25th place finish earned at the Tricky Triangle in 2015 driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
