Why Dover comes at a perfect time for this Hendrick Motorsports driver

A date with the "Monster Mile" awaits the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend and marks a return to an oval after back-to-back weeks of road/street course racing.

Dover Motor Speedway, though, is not your typical oval layout, with its high banks and close confines posing a significant challenge and leaving little room for error for drivers each time they visit.

One organization that has excelled at the one-mile concrete track is Hendrick Motorsports. The legendary organization has a track-record 22 wins there and has placed at least one car in the top 10 every race for the past 15 years.

While Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have won at Dover and William Byron has been solid with three fourth-place finishes in his last five starts there, Alex Bowman has arguably been the best of the bunch as of late at the Delaware track.

Since 2019, he has one win (2021) and six top-10s in his last seven starts. His five top-fives are more than any driver in the series during that time.

Bowman has had a rocky season, highlighted by his 18.76 average finish. Although he had three top-10s in his last four races entering Sonoma, a 19th-place finish in "Wine Country" was a setback. To make matters worse, a bump from Ty Dillon in the final turn was enough to eliminate him from the In-Season Challenge and end his run at the $1M prize.

Those mixed results have him 15th in the playoff standings, only 32 points to the good over RFK Racing's Ryan Preece. For comparison, Byron, Elliott and Larson are 1-2-3 in the overall standings.

The speed has been evident for Bowman and the No. 48 team this season, especially in the first six races of the season when he had five top-10s, including a runner-up at Homestead-Miami.

If the execution can match the pace and his recent success at Dover continues, don't be surprised to see Bowman leading the HMS quartet on Sunday and perhaps picking up that elusive 2025 win to lock up a playoff spot.