Alex Bowman has decided that he will soon call it a career. He has announced that he will retire from the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2027 season.
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Hendrick Motorsports relayed the news on Thursday evening while preparing for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The company announced that Bowman will complete this season in the No. 48 Chevrolet, and then he will return for one more run after signing a one-year contract extension.
After that, he will hang up his NASCAR firesuit and move on to the next chapter of his life. He will focus on other pursuits while Hendrick Motorsports brings a new driver into the fold.
Corey Day has been the top option to replace Bowman moving forward, but other reports indicate that Connor Zilisch is on the team's radar. The Athletic even reports that Zilisch is the top target and that the "pursuit has already begun in earnest."
"I've spent a lot of time thinking about what's next, and this feels like the right decision at the right time," Bowman said in a press release. "The sport asks a lot of you, and I've learned it's important to listen to your body and make the right choices for yourself.
"To say I'm incredibly grateful to Mr. Hendrick, our partners at Ally and Chevrolet, and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports would be an understatement. They believed in me and gave me the biggest opportunity of my life.
"My focus now is on making the most of my time on the racetrack and competing for wins. We still have a lot to accomplish, and I want to close my career on a high note for our team and our fans. To have the chance to do that with this organization and these people is really special."
Bowman, an Arizona native, has been in the Hendrick Motorsports family since 2016. He first signed as a reserve driver and then he stepped in as an injury replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He made 10 starts in the No. 88 in 2016 and then took over the entry full-time in 2018 after Earnhardt retired.
He has scored eight wins since becoming a full-time driver for Hendrick Motorsports, headlined by a career-best four in 2021. He has won races at Auto Club Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Pocono Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the streets of Chicago.
Bowman is only 33, so the decision to retire from NASCAR could catch many by surprise. However, he has dealt with adversity in recent seasons.
He missed five races in 2022 after sustaining a concussion in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway. He missed three more races in 2023 after fracturing his back in a sprint car crash.
Bowman had to step out of the No. 48 midway through this season's race at Circuit of the Americas after experiencing vertigo symptoms.
He remained out of the car for four more races while continuing to recover from an issue that he believed could have been the end of his career.
He then spoke to media members after a top-five finish at Talladega Superspeedway and provided an indication that he may not be around the series for much longer.
Alex Bowman said it felt good to get a top-five finish at Talladega Superspeedway, his best finish of the year.
He added that he's very relieved he didn't crash.
"I don't have many big hits left in me, and I'm tired of crashing." pic.twitter.com/zxbtomJefB— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) April 26, 2026
"It's a lot of relief to finish," Bowman told media members on April 26. "To finish and not crash. Yeah, the bigger relief for me is not to crash at a place like this.
"I don't have many big hits left in me, and I'm tired of crashing. So, I'm glad that we got through one of these with a strong finish and happy for the team. They've had an incredibly rough go of it, on a lot of angles, the entire season."
In the weeks since making these comments at Talladega, Bowman has faced questions about his future at Hendrick Motorsports.
He responded by saying in late June that he didn't have anything in place for the 2027 season but that he aimed to have something figured out "sooner rather than later."
Three weeks later, he has provided an answer. He will be back for the 2027 season, but he will call it a career after one final ride.
"Alex has meant so much to our organization for a long time," said team owner Rick Hendrick. "He's overcome adversity, won big races and represented our team and partners with professionalism, personality, and class.
"Alex is a tremendous talent in the race car and an even better person outside of it. We're proud he'll have the opportunity to finish his full-time career with us on his terms. He's family."
