It’s been a long time coming for Bowman, but he’s finally back in the winner’s circle after a stellar performance for Hendrick Motorsports. Breaking an 80-race winless streak is no small feat! But now the big question is: can he keep this momentum going and prove he’s truly one of NASCAR’s top dogs?

Bowman’s last win was back in 2021, so seeing him step up and put himself back on the map is exciting. Hopefully, he’s drawing some inspiration from his star teammates, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, who are in 2nd and 1st positions in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, respectively. While many believe his Chicago win was just luck, veteran Kevin Harvick has some thoughts on that and hopes Bowman can show he’s got what it takes to hang with the best of the best, as he talks on the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour.

Words of wisdom and praise for Alex Bowman!

After a series of unfortunate circumstances with head and back injuries, No. 48 driver Alex Bowman had been stuck in a major slump, leading him to go years without a victory. But he finally snapped that streak by taking the checkered flag at the Chicago Street Race while drivers like Tyler Reddick, Todd Gilliland, and Ryan Preece struggled under the wet weather conditions with their tire choices. And, it looks like Kevin Harvick was the most pumped about it, to say the least, saying Bowman really stepped up and showed what he’s capable of.

You see, back in 2021, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was on a bit of a roll, displaying his best performances during that time—winning four races and earning about eight top-five finishes with 16 top-tens! His most notable performance?

Martinsville, where he conquered the historic short track. But then he started dealing with some nagging injuries, like head and back problems, that ended up slowing down his progress. So Harvick is hoping this Chicago win can be a career-reviving moment for Bowman. “When you look at Alex Bowman’s situation, I would say that people probably look at the results and they don’t take into consideration the whole scenario.” Kevin Harvick said on the episode that aired on July 9th, “And when you look back at the last couple of years for Alex with his injuries and the things that he has had to deal with, it really puts him in a situation that is unique to everybody else.”

Harvick also sympathizes with the No. 48 driver and states that while he has never had to deal with anything like the injuries that Alex Bowman has been through, he knows how tough and gruesome the competition gets in this sport, let alone the sport, within the Hendrick team as well.

Tuning the same sentiment, Harvick said, “But now he’s past all that and I think getting back into the winner’s circle now I want to see if he can get back to that 2021, where is it just one win and he lets his guard down or is it one in and he can keep that same pressure on himself to go out and win multiple races like his teammates are doing with the 9 winning and going to Texas, and then you have the 5 and 24 who have won multiple races. Because I feel like that’s where they were in 2021 from Alex’s standpoint. So I think there’s a lot of pressure on him to win multiple races.”

Hoping that Alex Bowman can just keep that same fire and pressure that he put on himself during Chicago, Harvick holds out for the driver that the rumors around a repeat in history don’t get to him, whether they’re true or not. Surely, the FOX analyst knows that people talk!

Can he pick up the pace from this win?

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Currently in his seventh full-time year with the Powerhouse, the winningest team, and paired up once again with crew chief Blake Harris, Alex Bowman has finally made it into the victory lane with Chicago in his bag. To say that it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for Bowman is an understatement. Nonetheless, he’s sitting 11th in the points standings now and will hopefully put in the work to make up for lost time and points.

From finishing 6th in the season-opening Clash at the LA Coliseum and bouncing back strong at Daytona to coming home 3rd in one of the duel races and then coming in 2nd at the Daytona 500 itself, Wow, what a way to kick things off! Despite the lack of wins, he has shown promise, and if Harvick can have some faith in him, why shouldn’t the rest of NASCAR?

The good news is that Alex Bowman and his Hendrick crew have always shown they’ve got the speed to win races; now they just need to put it all together and get their first victory of the year. And you can bet Bowman’s hungry to get back to that 2021 form when he was winning left and right.

So keep an eye on the No. 48 car, folks. With Bowman, you never know when ‘The Hack’ might just pull off a surprise win and shake up the NASCAR world!