Tucson’s Alex Bowman racked up his first win, and the first win in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series by an Arizona driver, June 30 at Chicagoland Speedway. Bowman held off Kyle Larsen to take the checkered flag, with defending champion, and points leader, Joey Logano placing third. Bowman led 88 laps on the 1.5 mile oval racetrack.
Bowman, 26, drives the number 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, replacing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He won entry to the 2019 All-Star Race through a vote of the fans, and had three consecutive second-place finishes this season. The Chicagoland Camping World 400 race was delayed by rain and drivers had to wait over three hours to complete the 400 mile race.
“I was just tired of running second,” Bowman said. “I don’t want to do that anymore. I feel like this is the last box, aside from going and chasing a championship, that I needed personally for myself to validate my career.” The win automatically puts Bowman in the running for the championship playoffs.
Doing the traditional celebratory burnout after winning the race, Bowman’s car got stuck in the mud due to the heavy rain that had fallen. “I’m the dumb guy that won the race and then got stuck in the mud,” Bowman quipped.” His victory celebration lasted until dawn.
At 7 years old, Bowman began racing on the short tracks of Arizona and California, driving quarter-midgets before advancing to USAC sprint cars. He transitioned to full-bodied stock cars at age 17, initially making starts in the 2010 Pro Cup Series and later the 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where he finished sixth in points and won rookie of the year.
Bowman also entered two ARCA Racing Series events in 2011, winning them both — at Madison International Speedway and Kansas Speedway. After Team Penske signed him in 2012, Bowman posted four ARCA wins — Salem, Winchester, Iowa and Kansas — and led 20 percent of the season’s total laps to earn another rookie of the year award. He made his first NASCAR national series start Sept. 15, 2012, at Chicagoland in the Xfinity Series, which he ran full-time in 2013 for RAB Racing.
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As a 21-year-old rookie, Bowman made his NASCAR Cup debut in the 2014 Daytona 500. Over the 2014 and 2015 seasons, he started 71 Cup events while running full-time for BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing. Notably, he competed twice in the 2014 Xfinity Series and once in the 2015 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports, which is affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports.
In 2016, Bowman made nine Xfinity Series starts for JR Motorsports, recording one pole position, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. His 10 Cup Series appearances for Hendrick in 2016 included top-10 results in playoff races at Chicagoland, Kansas and Phoenix.