Carving your path back to the top after a heavy setback requires dedication and patience. And one of Hendrick Motorsports‘ gems displayed both qualities. Alex Bowman looked like the outlier of the stellar Cup Series team after all his teammates picked up wins. But he reversed his backbencher narrative in Chicago and continued his charge in Pocono.

However, even that progress was the result of painstaking efforts, as Bowman recently told EssentiallySports in an exclusive interview at the  Pocono Raceway. Still, the No. 48 team’s tight-knit work is paying off as Bowman described a remarkable run at the Tricky Triangle.

Alex Bowman confesses to a slow climb

Before his Chicago Street Race brilliance, Alex Bowman clinched seven victories with Hendrick Motorsports. But since the 2022 Las Vegas race, his visits to Victory Lane have been at a standstill. He missed five races then due to concussion symptoms. Then 2023 had further health issues in store for him as Bowman broke his back at a sprint car event.

In 2024, Alex Bowman emerged out of this mess, securing a runner-up finish in Daytona. But despite securing 11-top-five finishes, he lay in the shadow of his highflying teammates.

So finally, after Chicago & Pocono, Bowman is feeling confident. Yet, he admitted to steady progress while talking to NASCAR journalist Kailey Mizelle for EssentiallySports: “Yeah, I mean I think we’re getting there, there are things we need to do better. But we’re definitely headed in the right direction for sure.“

The strong run at Pocono Raceway was proof of his enhanced confidence. Alex Bowman described his Pocono experience, hinting at the teamwork that waded through the difficulties.

“I think this race weekend was really normal at Pocono…I think we maximized our day for what we were fighting with our racecar. And you know, needed a little up of the restarts to get better for us in the middle part of the race, and know what we needed with clean air there at the end. But, I think our guys did a good job and overall it was a great race.”

Besides the slow progress, Alex Bowman’s climb back to the tough has been daunting as well. For instance, his win at the Windy City was laced with obstacles. It was a rainy, damp race with stellar road racers skidding out of control. Then darkness fell during the closing laps, weakening visibility. Last but definitely not least, 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was a tough thorn in Bowman’s side. The former used slick tires while Bowman was on slower rain tires.

Despite all this, Alex Bowman still emerged as the Chicago winner. And he had some remarkable support to aid him in retracing his patch back to Victory Lane.

Bowman had support in his dark times

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Last year Alex Bowman shared his medical misery with teammate Chase Elliott. He encountered a sprint car mishap while Elliott faced a snowboarding accident. Yet the latter came out of his misery earlier – winning the Texas race this season. Meanwhile, Bowman waited a long time to snap his unwanted 80-race-long streak. But he had a new crew chief – Blake Harris – to accompany him. However, Harris himself went through challenges, getting slapped with L-2 penalties last year.

Bowman found warmth in his team leaders as well. Injuring his lower vertebra did not bode well for the team, as the driver said: “After I broke my back, we struggled the whole rest of the year. Yeah, you have to shoulder a lot of that, even when there are things that are outside of your control going on.” Bowman was even afraid of how his seniors would react. He dreaded pressing ‘send’ on the phone call to inform the team heads, Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, about his injury.

But contrary to his apprehensions, both team leads showered warmth and empathy. “It wasn’t like, ‘Gosh, I can’t believe you did this to yourself,’” Bowman recalled.

“It was like, ‘How can we help you? And what do you need, and we’ll do everything we can to help you and help you heal and get better as quick as possible,’” Bowman said, showing appreciation for his team & sponsors.

As Alex Bowman affirmed to EssentiallySports, his slow run is paying a mighty dividend. And that was due to his innate talents and the presence of some supportive individuals in his team.