CONCORD, N.C. -- Alex Bowman has expressed multiple times how excited he is to hit the racetrack in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, even admitting he is a little nervous.
Bowman is using that pressure to fuel his drive to make the No. 48 his own car, not just Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet. While Bowman wants to bring the No. 48 back to victory lane for Hendrick Motorsports and his teammates, he wants to make a statement about his talent, as well.
“I just want to win for me,” Bowman said. “Obviously, I want to win for Hendrick Motorsports and for Chevrolet and for Ally and for everybody that makes this deal possible. But, more so than any of that, I want to win for me.
“… I probably put too much stress on myself and too much pressure on myself at times, but it’s all from me because I care about how we run and because I want to run well. It’s not really because somebody is saying, ‘Oh the No. 48 has to go win or needs to go win a championship.’ It’s because I want to win and because I want to win championships.”
Bowman took the Ally Chevrolet out for the Clash Tuesday night and placed seventh after rallying from a speeding penalty. His first real test will be when he lines up for the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday afternoon. Known as the Super Bowl of NASCAR, drivers have to shake off any offseason rust and tackle one of the top races of the year.
“The Daytona 500 is huge with so many people and so much going on,” Bowman said. “To me, once I get in the race car, none of that other stuff really matters. I just turn everything else off and go do (my) job. ... There’s a really big unknown going into the season, just like every season when you don’t really know how your car is going to be until you get to the racetrack.”
With all eyes on the No. 48 and its new driver this year, Bowman said his key to success is no different than when he ran with the No. 88 Chevrolet. He preached consistency and cited his team’s success during the last part of the season when they placed inside the top 10 in nine of the final 12 races.
“We were able to do that during the playoffs; it was great,” Bowman said. “Throughout the course of the season we were really hit and miss, hot and cold. We didn’t have the summer that we needed to have and that put us way behind on playoff points going into the playoffs. … If we can run how we did in the playoffs all year long, we can make a lot of noise.”
Tune in this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX to see Bowman rev his engine on the Ally Chevrolet for the 63rd running of the DAYTONA 500.