Alexander Michael Bowman (born April 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He has competed in the ARCA Racing Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, finishing 11th in the latter series' 2013 standings.
Video Alex Bowman
Racing career
Beginnings
A native of Tucson, Arizona, Bowman started his racing career on short tracks in Arizona and California in 2000 at the age of 7, driving quarter midget cars in United States Auto Club (USAC) competition. By 2006, he had won nine national championships and 165 feature wins.
Midget Racing
In 2008, he won the USAC National Focus Midget championship with 11 wins, as well as the California Dirt Focus Midget championship. In 2009, he was named USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year. In February 2010, Bowman was injured in an accident during a USAC race, suffering a fractured clavicle and rib. Bowman continues to field a midget in select races, competing himself at the 2016 Chili Bowl and fielding a car for driver Ryan Smith in 2017.
K&N Pro Series
In 2010, at the age of 17, he moved to full-bodied stock car racing, making two Rev-Oil Pro Cup starts and a late model start. Bowman moved to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with X Team Racing for 2011. Bowman finished sixth in series points, winning Rookie of the Year.
ARCA Racing Series
Bowman also competed in two ARCA Racing Series events during 2011 for Venturini Motorsports, at Madison International Speedway and Kansas Speedway, winning both events.
He moved full-time to ARCA for 2012 for Cunningham Motorsports as a development driver for Penske Racing, winning races at Salem Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Iowa Speedway, and Kansas Speedway over the course of the year. Alex also won the pole for the inaugural Arca Mobile 200 at Mobile International Speedway in Mobile Alabama 3/11/2012
Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series
Also in 2012, Bowman made his debut at the national level of NASCAR competition, driving for Turner Motorsports in the Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway. He finished 17th in his debut race; he also drove for RAB Racing in the Nationwide Series at Kentucky Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, and for Turner at Dover International Speedway, towards the end of 2012.
In January 2013, it was announced that Bowman would be running the full Nationwide Series season for RAB in 2013, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. He would win his first career Nationwide pole at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas. Bowman would win another pole at Texas later in the season, but was released by the team prior to the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Bowman ended the season with six top-tens in 32 starts.
Bowman returned to the Nationwide Series in 2014, driving the No. 80 for Hattori Racing Enterprises at Dover, while driving the No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevy at Charlotte and Phoenix.
During the 2015 season, Bowman made starts in the Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) Series with Athenian Motorsports and a Camping World Truck Series race with JRM.
On November 11, Bowman joined JRM for nine races in the No. 88 for the 2016 Xfinity season. He won a pole at Michigan and finished in the top-ten in all but two races. Despite the success, Bowman struggled to find sponsorship that would grant him the opportunity to race full-time for JRM.
In 2017, Bowman joined GMS Racing to run the Truck Series race at Atlanta in the No. 24 as a fill-in driver for Justin Haley, who was too young to race at the track. In October and November, Bowman drove the No. 42 Xfinity car of Chip Ganassi Racing at Charlotte and Phoenix. At Charlotte, Bowman dominated the final portion of the race following a late restart to win his first NASCAR national series race.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
In January 2014, Bowman tested for BK Racing as part of Preseason Thunder before the 2014 Daytona 500 in the No. 83. On January 20, the team announced his hiring for the No. 23 car for 2014, running the full 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season for Rookie of the Year. During the season, the success of Josh Wise's Dogecoin-sponsored car prompted a sponsorship effort to fund a bitcoin-sponsored car at Atlanta for Bowman with a goal of raising $100,000. The goal was subsequently dropped to $25,000, but failed to raise enough funding.
On January 30, 2015, it was announced that Bowman would drive the full 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in the No. 7 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing. He failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 after he was caught up in a multi-car wreck in his duel race. At New Hampshire his car erupted in flames after rubber from a blown tire got into the engine. He was able to return to the track. On January 21, 2016, Bowman parted ways with Tommy Baldwin Racing, losing his Sprint Cup ride.
Bowman returned to the Cup Series at Loudon in the New Hampshire 301, driving the No. 88 for Hendrick Motorsports as an interim driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who would miss the remainder of the 2016 season because of concussion issues. Despite running in the top ten, including as high as eighth, Bowman blew a tire and hit the wall in turn one on lap 272, relegating him to a 26th-place finish.
Bowman and Jeff Gordon would alternate the No. 88 car for the balance of the 2016 season. Bowman won his first career pole at Phoenix. The Phoenix event turned out to be his best race of his career. Bowman led the most laps with 197 and tried to make what would have been the winning pass on Matt Kenseth with 6 laps to go. While passing Kenseth, Bowman got tapped from behind by Kyle Busch, spinning Kenseth out; Bowman recovered to finish 6th. In December 2016, Rick Hendrick announced that Bowman would run the No. 88 in place of Earnhardt for the 2017 Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona; while Earnhardt was also eligible for the event, he elected to allow Bowman drive the car out of appreciation for substituting in 2016. Bowman finished third after losing out in a side-by-side battle for second with Kyle Busch. When Earnhardt announced his retirement in the spring, he expressed support for Bowman to replace him in the No. 88 for the 2018 season. On July 20, Hendrick Motorsports formally named Bowman as the driver of the No. 88 car in 2018. Bowman opened up the 2018 season on February 11 by winning the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500.
Maps Alex Bowman
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * - Most laps led.)
Monster Energy Cup Series
Daytona 500
Xfinity Series
Camping World Truck Series
K&N Pro Series East
K&N Pro Series West
* Season still in progress.
1 Ineligible for series championship points.
ARCA Racing Series
(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * - Most laps led.)
References
External links
- Alex Bowman driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Source of article : Wikipedia
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