CHICAGO: Alex Bowman will endure a well-deserved hangover on Monday after ending an 80-race winless streak and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2022.
After overcoming injuries over the past two years, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was on a mission at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday.
Bowman, 31, passed road racing ace Joey Hand for the lead in the final eight laps and held off a challenge from Tyler Reddick over the final 2.2-mile circuit for his eighth career win.
“It has certainly been a large mental test to go through everything that has happened in the last two years and try to continue to overcome that each and every week, especially when things aren’t going your way,” Bowman said.
“Honestly the last month has been super frustrating for us. We’ve had a lot of things outside of our control, cost us a lot of points, and it’s been really frustrating.
“There’s a lot of emotions that go away with this because of how hard that has been.”
The champagne flowed in the makeshift Victory Lane on South Columbus Drive as the No. 48 Ally team celebrated Bowman’s comeback and the first career win under the direction of crew chief Blake Harris.
“It’s been a challenge,” Harris said. “I feel like the year-and-a-half that we’ve been together, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve always been fighting to get out of a hole—but there’s no hole after today.
“I’ve worked my entire life—to be in this position, to be with an organization, a driver, a team that could compete for championships. Anything short of that is disappointing, right? I know we were thrown some curveballs last year, but this team deserves to be in Victory Lane—and we didn’t get there last year. And that weighs on you every week.”
Bowman enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2021 when he won four races with crew chief Greg Ives. The next season, Bowman won the third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the NextGen car.
But a series of wrecks throughout the year combined with a vicious shunt at Texas Motor Speedway in September sidelined Bowman with a head injury for five races. He returned for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway—and his final race with Ives—but it felt forced.
Harris took over after the 2022 season. The pair enjoyed quality time the following January at the Chili Bowl Nationals, then won the pole the following month for the Daytona 500. With a streak of four top-fives to start the season, Bowman led the point standings after Phoenix and held it for the next two races.
Bowman remained in the top 10 until he was injured racing a sprint car in Iowa following the April race at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I remember when I got to the hospital in Iowa sitting there, like, knowing that something was wrong,” Bowman said. “The doctor came in and he’s like, I have great news, your neck is totally fine, but you broke your back, and just feeling like I let my whole team down, like I let Ally down and Mr. Hendrick down.
“Especially like the concussion stuff, we blow a tire running a Cup car. That’s so different than breaking your back going and doing your hobby, right? That felt pretty self-inflicted, and I spent my 30th birthday in the hospital in Burlington, Iowa. It was not a lot of fun.”
Bowman felt terrible physically and mentally. The back pain was excruciating, particularly the first few weeks. After competing for 600 miles at Charlotte, he could barely climb from the car, let alone walk the rest of the week.
But disappointing his team hurt worse.
“Yeah, that was tough,” Bowman said. “I felt like I let them down. But the first thing Mr. Hendrick said is, ‘We’ll get through it and whatever you need we’re going to get you help with,’ and everybody was so incredibly supportive.
“Life got difficult after that, but yeah, without everybody’s support sticking behind me, certainly couldn’t have overcome that.”
At times, Bowman’s victory press conference on Sunday night sounded more like an inquisition than a routine post-race availability. His recent lack of success led to questions about his job security.
“Certainly, I have a contract through the end of 2026, and that hasn’t been questioned as much as Twitter would like to believe it has,” Bowman smirked.
“There’s a lot of noise, and that makes it difficult for the team. I’m proud of my guys for being able to shut that out and work hard each and every week and have confidence in the decisions that we make and the race cars that we bring to the racetrack.
“It means a lot to me to be able to overcome a lot and do something that I don’t think a lot of people here really would have thought this weekend that we could.”
If Bowman seems defensive, he’s earned that right. The Tucson native has heard the critics since he jumped in a Cup car in 2014.
And after postponing his last victory celebration following the March 2022 win—expecting the next one would be right around the corner—Bowman will certainly not make that mistake again.
“I’ve got a couple bottles (of bourbon) that were bought early in the ’22 that were like the next win we’re going to drink these, and they’ve been sitting on the counter way too (freaking) long,” Bowman said.
“Everybody that said I couldn’t win and don’t deserve to be at Hendrick Motorsports and all that bullshit, cheers to you!”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
