48 Alex Bowman
Age: 29 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Concord, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Standings: 11th
No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
DAYTONA DÉJÀ VU: Alex Bowman will return to Daytona International Speedway this Saturday for the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. In this year’s DAYTONA 500, Bowman qualified on the front row for the fifth consecutive year and garnered Hendrick Motorsports’ eighth 1-2 start at the season opener. The No. 48 driver has three top-10 finishes across his 12 starts at the superspeedway and matched his career-best finish of seventh place in last year’s regular season finale at Daytona.
2022 RECAP: With one race left in the Cup Series regular season, Bowman has tallied one win (Las Vegas Motor Speedway), three top-five finishes and 10 top-10s thus far – locking himself into the Cup Series playoffs for the fifth consecutive year with Hendrick Motorsports.
IN GOOD COMPANY: Since the start of the 2021 Cup Series season, the 29-year-old’s five wins trail only two drivers and both happen to be his teammates – 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott (six) and 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson (12).
IVES’ SUPERSPEEDWAY SUCCESS: Crew chief Greg Ives has an impressive background on superspeedways, finding success throughout his career on top of the box. In the Cup Series, the Bark River, Michigan, native has tallied four pole positions – three of those coming at Daytona – two points-paying wins (Talladega Superspeedway in May 2015 and Daytona in July 2015 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and two victories in the Daytona Duel qualifying races (2015 and 2016 with Earnhardt). In addition, Ives led Regan Smith to a NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega in May 2013.
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND: Each week of the season, Bowman and primary sponsor Ally have joined forces to contribute $4,800 to Best Friends Animal Society. If Bowman wins, the donation increases to $10,000. To date, a total of $130,000 has been donated to Best Friends Animal Society and its network partners in each race market the Cup Series visits.
REVVING TO A MILESTONE: The engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports sits three wins away from 500 victories. To date, the company’s engine program is responsible for 337 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, 123 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, 22 wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 15 wins in the ARCA Menards Series and the K&N Pro Series (now ARCA Menards Series East and West) ranks.
PUSHING TO THE PLAYOFFS: While the playoffs don’t start for another week, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are locked into the 16-driver field. This is the fifth season – and second in a row – that the Rick Hendrick-owned squad has had four drivers make the postseason. Its mark of 15 seasons with at least three drivers in the playoffs, and 17 straight seasons with at least two drivers in it, are both the most among all organizations.
LEADING THE WAY: With nine wins through 25 NASCAR Cup Series races in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has earned the most victories so far this season. It is the only four-car team to see all of its drivers win a race this season. The organization is the only one to have multiple drivers with at least two wins – Chase Elliott (four), Kyle Larson (two) and William Byron (two). On top of that, the 1,624 laps out front lead all teams in the series by 74 circuits. Elliott and Byron rank 1-2 in laps led this year.
THREE’S NOT A CROWD: For the fifth time in team history, the company has had three drivers with multiple wins in the same season – the most for any one organization out of the 12 times it has happened in Cup Series history. The other occurrences for Hendrick Motorsports were in 2005 (with Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson), 2012 (with Gordon, Johnson and Kasey Kahne), 2014 (with Gordon, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and 2021 (with Elliott, Larson and Alex Bowman).
FINE NINE: Larson’s win at Watkins Glen International gives the 14-time Cup Series championship organization its 16th season with at least nine wins. That mark is the most by three seasons for a Cup Series team. This is the ninth time since 1995 that the team has at least nine wins through the first 25 races of the season.
QUALIFYING QUICKNESS: With 22 poles at Daytona International Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has twice as many poles at the “World Center of Racing” as any other team. The Concord, North Carolina-based team has won the pole for nine of the last 11 Daytona races. All four drivers in the current lineup have earned a pole position at the 2.5-mile track.
V FOR VICTORY: The organization is tied for the most wins at Daytona with 15 – eight in the DAYTONA 500 and seven in the 400-mile summer race. Those 15 wins have come with seven different drivers – which is also tied for the most drivers on one team to win at the Florida venue. Gordon’s six wins top the board, followed by Johnson with three victories and Earnhardt Jr. at two triumphs. Byron, Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond and Darrell Waltrip each have one win.
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on making the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year with Hendrick Motorsports: “Obviously, I am excited to be back in the playoffs again. It’s no secret that we have had our struggles this summer, but I know we have a lot of smart people at the shop working really hard to get us out of the summer slump we have been in. Two years ago, we struggled to make the playoffs and then had one of the best playoff runs I have ever had. We all know what we are capable of. It’s time to go out there and execute and try to win Hendrick Motorsports’ 15th championship.”
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on heading to Daytona: “Daytona (International Speedway) is a place that you can get caught in someone else’s mess pretty quickly. So for us it’s all about doing the fundamentals – bringing a fast No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and continue to work on the ability to be aggressive. I think you have to be a little aggressive at these speedway-style racetracks, be able to make moves quickly and have confidence in the car in order to have success. We are going to continue to work hard and execute on Saturday.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
