“I’m not worried about that at all.” Alex Bowman made his opinion clear about the nasty rumors circulating in early September. After his rain-drenched victory at the Chicago Street Race, Bowman gathered just a single podium finish in Pocono. For the rest of the regular season, he finished 19th or worse. So fans began speculating about his diminishing career.
Rick Hendrick did his part in snuffing out rumors of ejecting Bowman. The latter also did his part – he consistently produced stellar finishes in the postseason. Yet the fans’ distrust of the No. 48 Chevrolet driver is fading. Amidst such uncertainty in his performances, Ally reveals a new paint scheme for the car. It features snazzy black and violet colors, all set to have Bowman look like a solid threat for 2025, which a statistic also hints at.
Alex Bowman’s resume speaks better than his reputation
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Well, we all know the Hendrick Motorsports star’s heart-wrenching bad luck. Alex Bowman gathered five top-tens and 2 top-fives across the postseason – and by the Charlotte race, was the driver with the highest points accrued. However, the Roval debacle sidelined him. The 48 car was too light in the post-race inspection, failing to meet the buffer of 17 lbs. His drop from 18th to 38th spelled an advantage for somebody else – Joey Logano got back into the playoffs. This spurred possibly the biggest 2024 controversy in the Cup Series, as Logano went on to clinch the championship. And fans choose to blame Bowman for his bad luck. This probably contributed to fans’ dislike towards Bowman, as his disqualification was indirectly responsible for Logano’s championship.
In a recent survey of betting odds for the 2025 championship, fans relegated Alex Bowman to the 14th-best chance with odds of 35-1. That puts the HMS driver just two spots ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen, the Kiwi driver who will be the 2025 Cup Series rookie. This elicited disbelief from NASCAR expert Eric Estepp, who said, “I think fans are sleeping on Alex Bowman just a little bit.” He placed Bowman on a pedestal for proving his haters wrong. “In the face of the scrutiny, Alex Bowman put together an incredible playoff run. Didn’t do much in the regular season, was at a points deficit coming in, but was a technicality away from making it to the round of 8.”
Furthermore, Alex Bowman posted some brilliant stats, as Estepp continued. “If we give Bowman 18th at the Roval, his average finish during the playoffs was 11th. He also led 52 laps in those final 10 races… Only Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin had better average finishes.” And the HMS driver did not let the Charlotte heartbreak bog him down, despite throwing his phone in his pool. “Even with the devastating, gut-wrenching Charlotte Roval disqualification, he didn’t let that get him down… Despite being eliminated, he ran top-five, top-ten.” Donning Ally’s new and stylish colors, Bowman may carry forward this streak in no time.
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And Alex Bowman’s team has the utmost trust in him to achieve this.
The odds are not so bad for Bowman
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A common misery stood out for Alex Bowman in both 2023 and 2024. Last season, he broke his back in a sprint car race and missed out on four races. Following that mishap, he lost his pace significantly. Then this season, the Charlotte car weight fiasco robbed him of a legitimate championship-contending chance. So where bad luck has intervened, Bowman has faltered. Estepp pointed out that prior to the 2023 crash, “Bowman was leading the points when he got injured in the sprint car crash and had to miss time. When Bowman has been healthy, he has been very very consistent.”
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That consistency is all that Bowman needs to top the 2025 season. And Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and HMS vice-chairman, placed a lot of faith in him. When the rumors of Bowman’s ejection were getting rampant, Gordon said in July, “As far as we’re concerned, Ally loves him and we love him. He’s a car guy, and there’s a reason why he came to Hendrick Motorsports, and he’s proven he can win. Today was not an easy set of circumstances, and he proved he can win in these tough conditions, as well, on a road course.” Bowman himself tossed the rumors aside, saying, “That’s a rumor I’ve heard for like a month, and it got to the point where I picked up the phone and called everybody, and everybody said absolutely not.”
When a NASCAR Hall of Famer can speak on behalf of Alex Bowman, what other approval do you need? As the 2025 season rolls into view, let us wait and see how it unfolds for him.