Very few race car drivers are lucky enough to get to race for Mr Rick Hendrick and his team, Hendrick Motorsports. Fortunately for Alex Bowman, he is one of those few race car drivers. However, in terms of results or success, the 30-year-old has yet to make a sizable impact on the team. To put it bluntly, he has not been able to live up to his expectations of winning a championship.
With the start of the new season, Bowman is eager to hit the ground running and has his eyes set on championship glory. In doing so, he will be giving up on his sprint car racing pursuits, which haven’t really worked out either in the last year. He had a major vertebra injury while competing in a sprint car race in Iowa, which saw him miss out on 4 weeks’ worth of racing in the Cup Series. This is not an ideal situation for a driver who is expected to contend for top positions every season. Therefore, going into the 2024 Cup Series season, Bowman has made some big sacrifices in order to hit his season’s target.
Bowman not looking for any excuses this season
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Alex Bowman’s passion for sprint car racing is no secret. Notably, he also owns and operates Alex Bowman Racing, a team that competes in dirt and sprint car racing events. While HMS is supportive of its drivers racing in different events, Bowman has now realized his priorities for 2024. In his bid to stay true to his commitment to the Cup Series, he has decided to take a break from his sprint and dirt car racing exploits.
Speaking on the Sirius XM Radio show, Bowman explained why he chose to back down on his sprint racing efforts. “You just have to be smart about things, right? The thing that matters most to me right now is being competitive in the Cup Series, and trying to win the championship. Can’t do that when you are sitting out. You need to put a whole year together.”
He went on to add, “You look at how we started the season last year, we are plenty capable race team. Blake and I really work well together. I can get the job done, Blake can get the job done. Mr Hendrick gives us all the tools we need for our ally team and we just need to go and execute this year.”
.@Alex_Bowman made the choice to scale back his sprint car racing in 2024 in efforts to put his full focus on @TeamHendrick in Cup.
🗣️ "Need to go put a whole year together […] we're a plenty capable race team." #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/6lqJqqV46G
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 17, 2024
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Bowman’s focus is indeed in the right place. Overcoming a shaky qualifying race for the Daytona 500, he has secured a good starting position for Sunday’s race and is eager to bring home glory.
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Bowman looking to snap a 10-year-long winless streak for HMS at the Daytona 500
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Overcoming his inspection scrutiny from the first round of Daytona 500 qualifiers, Bowman bagged a P3 finish in the first Duel, and thus managed to lock up a top-10 starting spot on the grid, placing seventh. As a team, Hendrick Motorsports has not won the prestigious race in 10 years. It was Dale Earnhardt Jr back in 2014 who recorded the win for the team. Despite failing to add on his front-row streaks at Daytona, Bowman feels confident that he will be one to break the 10-year Daytona 500 drought for his team.
“I want to be the guy that changes that, but want to put Hendrick Motorsports in the best position with all four of our cars to get there. The Daytona 500 is a huge deal and we want to go get a trophy.”
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Last season, it was a P5 finish for him, and interestingly, this was the best finish by any HMS driver. So evidently, he is the best bet for HMS to break their duck for the Daytona 500 and bring back the trophy.