7 days agoAfter a long run of consistent finishes in races where he has otherwise mostly been a non-factor, Alex Bowman earned his first pole on a non-drafting superspeedway for Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Although you'd think Homestead would be one of his absolute best tracks since it is similar to Chicagoland, Kansas, and Las Vegas -- where he's either won and/or run well before -- Bowman has never led there or finished better than seventh. Both of those will likely change since Bowman seems faster than he has in years, and in last week's Las Vegas race, he made a pass for the lead and recovered from a flat tire to drive up to seventh. If he has no bad luck with the consistency he's had, a top-five finish almost seems likely, but he's probably not going to win. Bowman has a lot of DFS value if you think he's going to dominate the race, but more likely he won't lead after the end of Stage 1.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoAlex Bowman started sixth and finished seventh at Las Vegas, so you might figure he had his typical run-of-the-mill run where he ran in the back half of the top 10 of the race without really contending, but his run was actually a lot stronger than that. Bowman led two laps early after passing Austin Cindric after the first restart before Cindric repassed him, but then while running fifth on Lap 90, he pitted for a loose wheel and fell to 35th. He gained considerably after staying out of the pits on the eighth caution and quickly re-entered the top 10 for good after that, running as high as fourth in the latter stages. It remains to be seen whether he will have the speed to dominate a race again (which he hasn't for a while), but Sunday was an encouraging sign.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoDon't sleep on Alex Bowman this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Statistically, this has been one of the best tracks on the schedule for Bowman since the Next Gen car was introduced, as he has an average finish of 12.4 here over the last five races and an average driver rating of 98.5. Including his win here in Sin City back in 2022, Bowman finished third here in 2023 and ended up finishing fifth in the fall Playoff race last October. Additionally, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has been strong at Kansas Speedway as well, which is the sister track to Las Vegas. Over at Kansas, Bowman has five straight top-10 finishes. This weekend, the No. 48 Chevrolet was among the fastest in practice when it came to long-run lap averages, and Bowman qualified sixth for Sunday's Pennzoil 400. He's a risky tournament/pivot option in DFS contests at $8,000 on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
3 weeks agoAlex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports ended Sunday's Shriners Children's 500 in the seventh position after an up-and-down day. Bowman began the race from the 32nd position, and after an early pit stop, he made up some ground and placed 17th by the end of the first stage. In the second stage, Bowman got involved in a multi-car accident and obtained some damage, but he could continue. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver would end the second stage in the 16th position, failing to score stage points for the entire day. In the final stage, Bowman shuffled his position up and down, running as high as third by lap 217 or falling back towards the back half of the top 20 during pit stops. Bowman eventually would take option tires during the final stage, allowing him to pass other cars and make it to the top 10. After the race's final restart, Bowman ended the race inside the top 10 with a finish of seventh, his highest at Phoenix since 2016.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
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