Alex Bowman understood the assignment. Two years of injury-riddled races, followed by ominous doubts about his career, were enough fuel for motivation. Now Rick Hendrick’s driver is rolling up his sleeves for a showdown never seen before. Bowman’s late-season surge can even be viewed to rival his glittering teammates – as Kansas Speedway displayed wide rifts in performance among them.

Bowman is slowly turning the doubts about his career into picture-perfect runs when the time is most crucial. Dragging his feet through most of the season except for Chicago, he is finally finding his pace during the playoffs. That has prompted a NASCAR expert to portray him as a threat to Kyle Larson.

The sky is the limit for Alex Bowman

“We’ve got to have 10 good races. We’ve just got to keep digging.” Alex Bowman firmly declared this after accruing more points than any other playoff driver in the Round of 12 – 120. Instead of just digging, Bowman’s team appears to be sweeping the gold mines at present. The Hollywood Kasino race witnessed a slew of challenges for playoff drivers – ranging from pit crew problems to flat tires. Kyle Larson fell prey to an issue right at the beginning, when he blew his right tire and axed his pace. Even Chase Elliott faced pit road problems.

But their teammate, Alex Bowman, soared through the challenges without much of a blink. Starting 12th, he cracked the top ten by the first stage and then won the second stage as well – his first this season. So NASCAR expert Eric Estepp showered praises on Bowman. “A very clean race for Bowman who once again earned points in both stages…This round shapes up really nice for Alex Bowman, and this team has a ton of momentum…They just won their first stage of the entire season. Took them until now, until the second round of the playoffs…but they are here, and they are legit.” The No. 48 team flipped a seven-point playoff deficit into an eight-point buffer.

Estepp also boldly declared that Alex Bowman may be on his way to topple Larson’s momentum. “He could get to Phoenix – the way they are running right now, absolutely…Way too consistent, and driving for Hendrick Motorsports comes with championship pedigree.” After clinching 6th place at Kansas, Bowman is confident about maintaining his consistent streak at Talladega. Although a cautious tone is best for the feared track: “Obviously, Talladega…it is what it is. We just need to focus on the things that we can control. And the rest is just kind of a part of racing. So focus on things that we can do and go from there.” 

And Alex Bowman’s superb approach is propelling him to a potential victory. He is using all of his hardships to answer his doubters in kind.

Nothing can stop him now

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Since 2022, Alex Bowman has been on a rollercoaster ride of problems. A concussion cost him five playoff races and led to his elimination in the Round of 12 in 2022. Then, in 2023, a fractured vertebra sidelined him for three more events in the spring. Despite losing invaluable time in the Next Gen car to adapt to lower horsepower, larger wheelbase, and other nuances, Bowman is right on track in 2024. And this can be attributed to Bowman’s no-nonsense approach – the false rumor about his ejection might have been an added motivational factor.

But Bowman is glad that he is reversing all the struggles he has faced to this point. Prior to the Kansas race, he exuded confidence as he declared: “I don’t want to look back and use those races (I missed) as an excuse, but it certainly wasn’t good. Yeah, it’s nice to kind of feel like we’ve overcome that stuff a little bit and feel like we’re pointed in the right direction at least. I feel like we’re just finally executing at the level we should be kind of across the board. I don’t know if we’ve necessarily caught up, but maybe we’ve kind of figured out what I like in the Next Gen car a little bit better lately.”

Evidently, we have got a solid playoff threat to Kyle Larson within his own team. Let us wait and see how Bowman weaves his story of success.