Alex Bowman's strong start continues run from last season

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Some day, one has to figure, the roller coaster ride Alex Bowman has experienced the past couple of years is bound to end with him celebrating more often than anguishing.

Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bowman lamented a chance to win, finishing second to Kyle Larson. But it shouldn't be overlooked what Bowman did this past weekend and what he's doing this season.

Of course, the highs and lows of the weekend match the extremes Bowman has faced in recent years.

After signing a contract extension days ahead of the 2023 Daytona 500 — a deal that takes him through the 2026 season with Hendrick Motorsports — Bowman took the points lead early in the 2023 season, suffered a back injury in a sprint car crash a few weeks later that derailed his Cup campaign, came a caution short of possibly winning the 2024 Daytona 500, made the playoffs that year with his victory at the Chicago Street Race, fended off rumors ahead of the playoffs he would be replaced if he didn't advance far, saw his title hopes end when his car was disqualified for being underweight and nearly won Sunday's Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Told ahead of this year's Daytona 500 that a couple of competitors considered him the sport's most underrated driver, Bowman said: "I certainly appreciate people saying that and I think for me, I have had a lot of success, but I have also had down years where things haven't gone how I want them to and the team wants them to.

"So, I think I have been on both sides of it for sure and we ended it at a good point last year obviously through a lot of B.S. Hopefully we are on the good side of that. I don't want to call myself underrated, I just want to go out and win races and I would rather prove it than say it."

On a team that includes two former Cup champions in Larson and Chase Elliott and the two-time reigning Daytona 500 champion in William Byron, it's easy for many to overlook Bowman, who has eight career Cup wins.

"This is our guy," Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, said about Bowman after Sunday's race.
We're happy to see (the No. 48 team) doing well."

Bowman's pairing with crew chief Blake Harris, which debuted at the start of the 2023 season, has produced results despite some of the difficulties faced in their time together.

Harris had one year of Cup crew chief experience before joining Hendrick Motorsports. Four races into the 2023 season, Bowman was leading the points. He missed three races due to the back injury he suffered in a sprint car crash and then struggled to get the proper feel of the car much of that season. Bowman showed better results in 2024 when he was healthy.

He advanced to the Round of 8 last year until his car failed inspection after the Charlotte Roval cutoff race, dropping him out of a transfer spot and putting eventual champion Joey Logano in Bowman's spot.

Bowman had seven top-15 finishes in last year's playoffs, including a pair of top 10s in the third round after the disqualification.

He has opened the season with five top 10s in the first six races and ranks third in the points heading into this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway.

"I feel like with what happened to us in the playoffs last year and getting knocked out in the Round of 8 by getting DQ'd, I feel like we kind of fell off the radar where, in our mind, we've been carrying that momentum since about last summer," Harris told NBC Sports on Sunday.

"We've found some things that he's gotten super comfortable with. … I think it's just kind of allowed us to step through some things methodically and really give him the confidence in what he needs to make pace."

Bowman was fast all weekend, claiming the pole and leading 43 laps. He was among those who was a part of a test at Homestead the day after last fall's race and that helped him with the 1.5-mile South Florida speedway.

During Sunday's race, Bowman had some damage to his car from earlier wall contact and hit the wall as Larson closed, allowing Larson to pass him for the lead with seven laps to go.

"I don't think we were nearly as good as we were at the test, especially at running the wall," Bowman said Sunday. "I just couldn't run the wall well all weekend, really, which is what I could do really well at the test. So, we've got to go back and do our homework and figure out why that was.

"But felt like our short run speed was obviously really good with being able to drive up there and get the lead, pressured Bubba (Wallace) into a mistake and then let myself get pressured into a mistake. So, yeah, annoying. I mean, Kyle (Larson's) the greatest race car driver of our generation. That's the one guy that beat us this.

"It's certainly not the end of the world, but we need to go get some trophies."