CONCORD, N.C. -- As the Hendrick Motorsports teams make their way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s race, No. 48 driver Alex Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives are preparing for the challenges that the 1.5-mile venue will bring.
Bowman notched two top-10 stage finishes in the March race at the Nevada track but suffered a flat tire in the final stage that relegated him to his 27th result. Coming off a top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ives acknowledged that he and his team must refocus and take each race one at a time to be successful in the Round of 12.
“Whether it’s a great week or a bad week, you try to look at each week as a new start and have realistic goals in mind,” Ives said. “A realistic goal for us at Las Vegas is a win. … With Vegas, I feel like we have great race cars capable of going out there and scoring a lot of stage points and getting the win. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we have teammates who have the same thing. You just got to go out there and execute to the best of our abilities and take advantage when we can.
“We just got to stay focused on that, and I feel like we’re capable of winning at any racetrack, but there’s a lot of confidence going back to Vegas.”
Bowman has four top-10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks this season across six starts. He and Ives are both satisfied that the setup they will bring to the track and are relying on their past success at the Nevada venue to bolster their run for a championship.
“Going to Vegas this weekend, it is a good track for the 48 team,” Bowman said. “We have seen success there in the past, and earlier this season we had a top-10, if not a top-five run going before we had a tire go down. … This round of the playoffs has a lot of good tracks for us, so we are looking to have strong runs in the next three weeks.”
Ives is confident that his notes from his 1.5-mile track success this season will give Bowman the right adjustments on the No. 48 Ally Chevy heading to Las Vegas. Bowman has secured one top-five finish and two top-10s in nine starts in Sin City, giving him the confidence to run up front in Sunday’s race.
“The past six weeks haven’t gone exactly the way we’ve wanted it but we approach every week as a new week and we try to overcome that,” Ives said. “It just shows the fight and the speed in our cars to be able to have something to challenge. “
Tune in this Sunday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN to see Bowman, Ives and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports teams take on Las Vegas in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12.