Alex Bowman’s last NASCAR victory took place in Las Vegas, back during the onset of the 2022 Cup Series campaign.
Since then, Bowman’s faced a myriad of disappointment throughout the last two seasons. Multiple injuries have caused him to miss a bevy of races, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammates have seemingly surpassed him in the meantime.
Even though he’s secure in his position at Hendrick Motorsports, after inking a contract extension prior to the 2023 campaign, the noise is growing louder and louder for Bowman. Amid his winless streak, Bowman took some time to explain how he’s dealing with the pressure at the moment.
“It’s more just wanting to win and wanting to get back to performing how I know we can,” Bowman said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER. “Selfishly, I don’t really care what other people think. I don’t want only to win races because I drive for Hendrick Motorsports, I want to win races for me. I want the trophies for me. I don’t really give a (expletive) about the rest of it.
“Running how we have has been so frustrating. I’ve worked super hard and done everything that I can to get back to where we need to be. So, I don’t feel outside pressure, it’s just me wanting to win for me.”
While Bowman’s had some rough performances, he’s sprinkled some solid weekends in here and there, including a P2 finish in the Daytona 500, and a P4 finish at Bristol this past weekend. Bowman’s crew chief Blake Harris has seen his driver’s frustration, but he believes better times are ahead for the No. 48.
“It’s frustrating,” Harris explained, regarding the No. 48’s inconsistent performance. “I want to sit on the pole and win every race and we haven’t been able to do that. We’ve got to continue to grow and execute with our group and not let the frustration carry over to the next week because we’re fully capable.
“We had a really good race car last weekend and regardless of how bad on paper Phoenix or Vegas looked or us, nothing held us back from being able to go compete at Bristol at the level that we did. I think we can do that every week.”
As you can tell, the pressure isn’t getting to Alex Bowman or the No. 48 team, and that’s a tremendous mindset for them to have.
The Hendrick Motorsports star isn’t far removed from winning multiple races in one season, and with a track he’s been solid at in COTA coming up this weekend, perhaps his return to prominence begins in Austin on Sunday.
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