CONCORD, N.C. – Alex Bowman has found he has quite a bit in common with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
Perhaps its only natural then that Bowman's No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for next month's race at Darlington Raceway honors Martin’s 1993 Southern 500 victory in the No. 6 Valvoline car. The car was revealed on Tuesday morning at an event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
PHOTOS: See every angle of Alex Bowman's Ally Throwback
"Growing up I was a big Jeff Gordon fan," Bowman explained. "I met Mark and I learned more about Mark through podcasts that he has done. I feel like I'm a racer. He's absolutely a racer. He's the definition of a racer. Working on his own cars. I feel like you see on social media he knows every setup package that he brought to every racetrack ever, which I think is super cool. I still work on my own sprint cars."
The gesture was one that Martin truly appreciated but also caught the 40-time Cup Series winner by surprise.
"I was really caught off guard," Martin said via video conference from his home in Montana. "It is a really cool thing. I don’t know if you can really realize what it means to us old timers to be remembered. It is such an incredible honor."
Bowman's history with Martin goes back to when he was coming up the national series ladder and running in the Xfinity Series.
"It's been really cool getting to know Mark," Bowman said. "He was actually one of the first guys that helped me in 2013 when I was running in the Xfinity Series. I’ve always been really appreciative of that."
Meanwhile, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2017 inductee has been keeping tabs on Bowman’s career and his rise to become a seven-time Cup Series winner at Hendrick Motorsports.
"I really like how his team is working," Martin said. "They are clicking and meshing. I think Alex has a really good combination of aggression and smarts. I watched him come along racing cars where he had to make sure he brought them home in one piece and that pays off."
The 1993 Southern 500 was the first of two wins at Darlington for Martin with the second coming when he drove for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. Bowman is looking for his first Darlington victory as the May 8 race approaches. In nine starts at the 1.366-mile track, he has a runner-up finish from the first of three races run there in 2020.