FANTASY NASCAR Racin

A native of Tucson, Arizona, Bowman started his racing career on short tracks in Arizona and California in 2000 at the age of 7, driving quarter midget cars in United States Auto Club (USAC) competition. By 2006, he had won nine national championships and 165 feature wins. In 2008, he won the USAC National Focus Midget championship with 11 wins, as well as the California Dirt Focus Midget championship. In 2009, he was named USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year. In February 2010, Bowman was injured in an accident during a USAC race, suffering a fractured clavicle and rib. In 2010, at the age of 17, he moved to full-bodied stock car racing, making two Rev-Oil Pro Cup starts and a late model start. Bowman moved to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with X Team Racing for 2011. Bowman finished sixth in series points, winning Rookie of the Year. Bowman also competed in two ARCA Racing

Series at Chicagoland Speedway. He finished 17th in his debut race. In January 2013, it was announced that Bowman would be running the full Xfinity Series season for RAB in 2013 wheeling the #23 machine, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. He posted two Top 5's and six Top 10's that season. 2014 saw him move to the Cup Series in 2014; albeit driving for underfunded BK Racing. He had a season best 13th place finish at Daytona in July as his only Top 20 result. In 2015 he drove for Tommy Baldwin in slightly better equipment than the previous year; but he still wasn't able to showcase his talent without being in top flight equipment. Much like the last season; he only posted one Top 20 finish. Still; someone must have known there was a gem hiding inside; if only he

could land a good ride. Then in 2016 Dale Earnhardt Jr crashed and was out an extended time with a concussion, and Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman was tabbed to drive the #88 car. After not having driver a Cup car for over 1/2 a season Bowman climbed behind the wheel at Loudon NH; started 20th and finished 26th. It was clear the Rick Hendrick owned Chevy was a far step up from what he had been driving. His next race at Michigan he qualified sixth but had issues in the race and finished 30th. The next race he finished a career best tenth at Chicago; and followed that with a 14th at New Hampshire. He was a surprise winner of the pole at Phoenix and looked to have a good shot to win; but ended up sixth. A career best finish. For

the ten races he drove in 2016 Bowman was able to post 6 finishes inside the top 16. There just wasn't a ride to be had anywhere in 2017; so Bowman was a test driver for Rick Hendrick. As Dale Earnhardt Jr retired at the end of the 2017 season; Bowman was rewarded for his patience and got to drive the #88 full time in 2018. That season saw Bowman post the first Top 5 finish of his Cup career. He had three in the season with a best finish of third. He also had eleven Top 10's and qualified for the Chase. He didn't do well in the Chase and finished 16th in the season points. Bowman returned to Hendrick Motorsports for 2019. This season was better than the previous ones. After getting a second place finish at Talladega and then at Kansas; he posted his first win at Chicago edging out Kyle Larson. The win qualified him for the Chase. He made it through the first two rounds; but a 37th place finish at

Talladega was enough to keep him from advancing any further. He ended up 12th in the final standings. He was back with Hendrick in 2020. Bowman had a season in 2020; much like the one in 2019. He grabbed a win early; claiming the checkers at Fontana. Two races later he almost won at Darlington, finishing second. The next nine races the team struggled as they only posted four top ten finishes. They then seemed to find something because the last 12 races they finished no worse than 16th and posted nine top tens. He had a shot to make it into the Championship round; but even finishes of third; fifth and sixth wasn't good enough to advance him forward to

the Championship race. He ended the season sixth in points with the one win; six top five and 15 top ten results. For 2021 Bowman was back with Hendrick Motor Sports; but with Jimmie Johnson retiring; he moved to the seat of the #48 car. Bowman had a good season in 2021; kicking off the season winning the pole for the Daytona 500. Bowman won his first race at Richmond; and won four weeks later at Dover; then won again later at Pocono. He ran well in the Chase; but was eliminated after Round two. He pulled off his fourth win of the season at Pocono. Bowman's 2022 season got off to a dismal start. Bowman's began by qualifying 2nd for the 2022 Daytona

500, but he was involved in a lap 63 crash in which he slammed into the flipping car of Harrison Burton. He was able to continue, but lost four laps, ultimately finishing 24th. The following week, at the WISE Power 400 in Fontana, Bowman was running in the top 10 when he hit the outside wall late in the race, finishing 25th. However, he won the 2022 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas, his seventh career victory, after battling with teammate Kyle Larson over the last couple laps. Three races later he was in a hard fought battle on the last lap at COTA as he; AJ Allmendinger and Ross Chastain neared the finish line. There was a lot of beating and banging between the three on the final circuit and Chastain ended up the winner with Bowman finishing second. Bowman was competitive where

the Cup series went and finished no worse than 13th during an eleven race span from Atlanta to Charlotte. Mid-season he had a run of bad luck as he was eliminated by crashes in four of six races. When the Chase started, he finished in tenth at Darlington and posted a fourth place finish at Kansas before crashing and finishing 32nd at Bristol. He advanced to the next round of the Chase; but crashed at Texas and post-race it was determined he had a concussion and had to miss the next five races. He was allowed to come back and run the final race of the season at Phoenix. During the season he made two starts in Spire Motorsports truck; on the road courses of COTA and Sonoma. Bowman

wanted to get some additional seat time before the Cup races those weekends. He started third at COTA and led the first lap; but got shuffled back after that and never made it to the front again. He finished 25th. At Sonoma he started sixth but got involved in a multi-truck wreck with four laps to go and finished 29th. He also ran on Xfinity Series race coming at Indianapolis on that road course. Bowman had much better luck in this race driving the Hendrick Motorsports Chevy as he finished second. Bowman was back with HMS in 2023. Like team-mate Chase Elliott he suffered an injury that seemed to stunt his season. Bowman started out on fire as the first seven races his worst finish was 14th and he had six top tens. Issues on the dirt at Bristol left him 29th; but

followed that with an 11th at Martinsville and 13th at Talladega. In the time between Talladega and the next race; he was racing in the midget car series and had a crash that fractured a vertebrae in his back. He was forced to miss three weeks and came back at Charlotte for the Coke 600. He finished 12th; but only had two finishes better than 15th the next ten races. He was fifth at Indy on the road course; his only top five finish from COTA, (the sixth race of the season) through the rest of the year. Like Elliott he missed a shot to compete for the Championship. He finished 20th in the points. Bowman made one start in the Xfinity series. It came at Watkins Glen where he started second. He ran a good race and finished ninth. He is expected to be back with HMS in 2024. For his career he

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

ALEXANDER MICHAEL WARREN BOWMAN - 04/25/1993