Editor’s note: This year, Alex Bowman will check in from time to time on HendrickMotorsports.com to provide insight into the 2018 season from his own perspective. Below is his latest entry.
If there’s one thing about being on the Cup Series schedule, it keeps you busy.
We just got back from testing at Michigan – I think I was at home a total of 14 hours this week and then got back on the road. Everything’s been good, though. I wish we were running a little bit better, but we’ve all got our heads down just focused on improving every week. And I think all four teams have shown that over the last few races.
As far as the personal side of things, it’s been going really well. I’m a quarter-century old. I can’t believe I made it this far. My Nationwide insurance got a little cheaper – I think that happens when you turn 25. So, I will take it. It’s definitely a good deal.
We were testing Michigan on my birthday, so I didn’t get the chance to do too much. I got home at like 9:30 and had to be back at the airport the next day to fly down to Talladega. Not a whole lot of birthday fun at the Michigan test, but we found some good speed in the car, which is not a bad birthday present.
My dogs, however, found my cake before I did. Right when I got home, Emily had a birthday cake for me she left out. I walked into the bedroom to unpack clothes real quick and she followed me, and by the time we walked out – it couldn’t have been but two or three minutes – Roscoe and Finn were covered in frosting and they had eaten a solid chunk of the cake. I posted a picture of it. So, yeah, can’t leave food on the counter with them. It was a rookie mistake on her part, but it was pretty funny.
I got to take the dogs to Bristol with me a couple weeks ago, which was fun, but they were a handful. Those two together is really hard when it’s just me at the racetrack. That was pretty interesting. We went home on Saturday night because we had a pretty good indication of what Sunday was going to bring. So, we weren’t out there stuck in the snow with the dogs, which is probably a good thing because Roscoe was eyeing up every other dog he saw to have a tasty snack and Finn was just having a good time.
We’ve got Talladega this weekend, and I think we can be really strong, we’ve just got to keep it up front and stay out of trouble.
We will try to lead every lap and go from there.