Alex Bowman returns to race for the No. 48 Ally Racing team for the fifth consecutive year in 2025. This year marks Bowmans eighth season with Hendrick Motorsports, ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series and third paired with crew chief Blake Harris. This year, the duo looks to add to Bowman’s eight Cup Series wins and secure his seventh playoff appearance.
Bowman turned in an impressive 2024 season after netting a new career high in top-10 finishes (17) and matching his previous best with eight top fives. A highlight of the season came when Bowman claimed a win at the Chicago Street race, which punched his ticket into the playoffs, marking his sixth career Cup Series playoff appearance. Additionally, Bowman secured one pole award for the fall race at Bristol Motor Speedway pushing his career total to eight. It all resulted in a ninth-place finish in the points standings.
In February 2023, Bowman signed a three-year contract extension with the 14-time championship winning team that keeps him driving for Rick Hendrick through 2026.
Bowman and Harris displayed great strength from the start of their inaugural season that year. The 30-year-old driver earned his third pole position, sixth front-row start and the 10th consecutive pole for Chevrolet in the DAYTONA 500. Bowman went on to earn a then-career-best, fifth-place finish, marking the first top-five result for a pole sitter in the DAYTONA 500 race in 21 years. The driver of the No. 48 Chevy continued to carry this competitive momentum, scoring a top-10 finish in six of the first seven races. The opening seven weeks of the season saw Bowman earn three top-five finishes, with third-place runs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Circuit of the Americas standing as the best results of the season. He also notched six top 10s and an average finish of 7.1 over that stretch.
Heading into the spring race at Richmond Raceway, Bowman led the points standings in Cup Series points standings for the first time in his career. Unfortunately, he suffered a back injury just before the 11th race of the season and was forced to miss three points races and the All-Star race. Bowman returned at the Coca-Cola 600 and the team went on to finish the season 20th in the driver points standings.
The 2022 season marked the Tucson, Arizona native’s fifth straight playoff appearance. Bowman captured one victory (Las Vegas Motor Speedway), four top-five finishes and 12 top 10s in the debut season of the Next Gen car. He kicked off the 2022 season by taking the outside pole position – next to teammate Kyle Larson – for the DAYTONA 500. It marked his fifth consecutive start on the front row of the Great American Race.
Just two races later, the No. 48 driver found himself in victory lane in Las Vegas where he won the first stage and led 16 laps at the 1.5-mile venue, punching his ticket to the 2022 playoffs. Bowman made it to the Round of 16 but had his run for the championship sidelined after sustaining a concussion on Sept. 25 at Texas Motor Speedway. He returned to race in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway where crew chief Greg Ives called his last race atop the pit box as a full-time crew chief in the Cup Series. Bowman finished 16th in the final season standings.
In 2021, Bowman garnered four wins (Richmond, Dover Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway), eight top-five finishes and 16 top 10s – all then-career-best totals. This marked his first season in the No. 48, which he transitioned to from the No. 88, following seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson's retirement from full-time racing. He and his team started the season by winning the pole position for the DAYTONA 500, marking his second pole position for the season-opening event. He found his stride early when he took home his first win in the ninth points-paying race of the season at Richmond, punching his ticket to the playoffs once again. The victory at Richmond gave primary partner Ally their first win in the Cup Series. He continued to show his grit, winning at Dover and leading Hendrick Motorsports to the first 1-2-3-4 finish in the organization’s history. Bowman’s playoff road ended in the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL elimination race in October, and he finished the season ranked 14th in the final Cup Series standings.
Bowman had a solid year in 2020, capturing one win (Auto Club Speedway), six top-five finishes and 15 top 10s. The team started off the season by capturing the outside pole position for the 62nd running of the DAYTONA 500. The Tucson, Arizona, native led 440 laps in 2020, his most in any season. Bowman and the No. 88 team secured a spot in the Cup Series playoffs following their dominating March win at Auto Club where they led 110 of 200 laps. The team advanced to the Round of 8 for the first time in Bowman’s six-year Cup Series career. At the conclusion of the 36-race season, Bowman finished a career-best sixth in the playoffs.
The Tucson, Arizona native, opened 2019 by capturing the outside pole position for the 61st running of the DAYTONA 500. He went on to capture seven top-five finishes, 12 top 10s and his first career Cup Series victory at Chicagoland Speedway in June. The driver led at six different tracks for a total of 200 laps and earned a Cup playoff berth for the second straight season. Led by Ives, the No. 88 team advanced to the Round of 12 following Bowman’s second-place finish at the Charlotte ROVAL. They finished 2019 ranked 12th in the final standings.
In 2018, Bowman continued to hone his race craft in his first full-time season with Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 88 Chevrolet. The then 25-year-old driver garnered three top-five finishes, 11 top 10s, and a pole position at the DAYTONA 500. Bowman also notched a win in the first Open qualifying event for the NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte.
Bowman drove just three races in 2017, with two starts in NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He made them all count, racking up three top-10 finishes that included a major milestone. After a seven-month layoff from competitive racing, he returned in the October Xfinity Series event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval to lead 32 laps and record his first career NASCAR national series victory. In addition to his handful of races in 2017, Bowman served as an integral part of the simulation and on-track testing programs for Hendrick Motorsports and manufacturer Chevrolet as he prepared to join crew chief Ives and the No. 88 team in 2018.
Even without a seat available in its four-car stable, Hendrick Motorsports quietly signed Bowman in October 2016 to keep him in the fold. The situation changed dramatically in April when Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he would retire at the end of 2017. That July, Hendrick Motorsports made it official: Bowman would join the Ives-led No. 88 Chevrolet team full-time beginning in 2018.
In 2016, Bowman’s talent and raw speed were on full display when he received the unexpected call to race for the injured Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver, for 10 Cup Series events. Under a bright spotlight, he delivered by earning three top-10 finishes for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team, including a near victory at his home track of Phoenix, where he won the pole and led a race-high 194 laps.
Bowman made the most of nine Xfinity Series starts for JR Motorsports in 2016, recording one pole position, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s in addition to being called upon by Hendrick Motorsports to race in 10 of the season’s final 18 Cup races. He debuted in Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 18 and earned a highest finish of sixth at in November Phoenix after starting from the pole.
To continue moving up the ranks, Bowman accepted an offer from BK Racing to drive in the Cup Series, making his debut in the 2014 DAYTONA 500. He went on to start 71 Cup events over the 2014 and 2015 seasons for BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing, which competed each week against larger multi-car teams with deeper resources. Bowman also raced twice in the 2014 Xfinity Series and once in the 2015 Truck Series for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports team, which is affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports.
At 19, Bowman signed with legendary car owner Roger Penske. In 2012, he posted four ARCA Menards Series wins and led 20 percent of the season’s total laps to earn the rookie of the year title. During the same year, he made his first NASCAR national series start in the Xfinity Series at Chicagoland Speedway.
Bowman’s ability has never been a secret in racing circles. He piled up wins driving West Coast sprint cars before an incident at a Las Vegas dirt track put him in intensive care and changed his focus to full-bodied stocks – and ultimately NASCAR. In 2011, he was rookie of the year in the ARCA Menards Series East and racked up two wins in the ARCA Menards Series, winning both races he entered.
Bowman has never turned away from hard work, having learned its value while building his own race cars and pitching in at his father’s Arizona body shop. As an auto enthusiast, he is passionate about working on both his personal cars and race cars. Under his own banner of Alex Bowman Racing, Bowman competed in the Chili Bowl Nationals as a driver and a car owner of four entries. Today, he resides in Concord, North Carolina, with his dog, Finn, a charcoal Labrador retriever.
