Fantasy NASCAR Racing

mid-season and received a concussion.  He sat out the rest of the season as Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman split time in the car.  Before Earnhardt's crash they had posted five Top 5 results; all were second place finishes.  2017 would be Earnhardt's final season but it was a difficult one as they were only able to grab one Top 5 finish the entire season.  When Dale Earnhardt Jr retired at the end of 2017, Alex Bowman assumed the seat of the #88 car. Greg Ives had led Earnhardt and when Bowman was brought on board; Ives was tapped to head up his efforts. Bowman had a rough season as he only had three Top 5 finishes and eleven Top 10's. Bowman made the Chase via points and advance through the first round; but poor finishes in the second round eliminated him.  Bowman and Ives were back together in 2019 and their results showed an improvement.  They pair ran off a string of consecutive second place finishes as they were the runner up at at Talladega, Dover and Kansas.  The duo saw Bowman claim his first Cup Series win claiming the checkers at Chicago and lock themselves into the Chase.  A crash in round one of the Chase left Bowman with his back against the wall as he was almost in a must win situation as the teams went to the Roval.  Bowman finished second in the race and barely squeaked into the second round.  He got caught in in a big crash at Talladega and he was eliminated from the playoffs at the end of the second round.  They finished 12th in the 2019 points.  Ives again partnered with Bowman for the 2020 season.  They had a season much like the one in 2019. Bowman had one win again, this time coming at Fontana. Bowman made it to round three in the Chase; but failed to make it to the Championship race and finished sixth in points. They remained together in 2021, but took over the #48 car.  Ives led his driver to a good season as the duo paired together for four wins.  Bowman’s first win came at Richmond, and then won the following month at Dover.  He’d win at Pocono and win again just before the season ended at Martinsville.  They had eight Top 5 and 16 Top 10 finishes.  The were again paired together in 2020 and they broke into the win column early in 2022 with a win in the season's third race coming at Las Vegas.  Kyle Busch was coming to take the white flag when Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones collided to send the race to overtime.  Larson got out of the pits first; but when the final green flag flew, Bowman was able to grab the lead and get the win.  They looked to be about to win at COTA a few weeks later when he, Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger beat and banged the final lap with Chastain getting the win, and Bowman second.  From there things went downhill as the pair only had two top five finishes the rest of the year.  Toward the end of the year Bowman was in a crash and Noah Gragson filled in for Bowman for five races.  They had one finish inside the top 20.  For his career, Ives worked at the Cup level for eight seasons. He led his drivers to ten wins in 286 starts.  Three wins were with Dale Earnhardt Jr, and the rest with Bowman. Before moving up to the Cup Series he spent two years in the Xfinity Series.  In 2013 he worked with Regan Smith.  They had two wins and eight top five finishes; ending up third in the season points.  In 2014, he was paired with Chase Elliott as he worked his way up into the Cup Series.  Elliott and Ives worked together to get three wins, and a whopping 15 top fives.  They would win the 2014 Xfinity Championship.  Ives retired from being a crew chief at the end of the 2022 season, and took a new position at HMS in 2023.