Alex Bowman only has one more season left in his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career before he retires. He can't realistically accomplish all of his goals, so how exactly will he determine if it's a success?
Videos by FanBuzz
The short answer is that he won't view the season as a failure or success based on where he finishes in the championship standings.
"I think it's pretty easy to sit here and be like, a successful season next year would be winning races and making the Chase and kind of doing all the things that is normally expected of us," Bowman said at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"But going into my last season, for me, a successful season would be figuring out how to enjoy it a little bit. I've made myself pretty miserable just being so hinged on like the result of the race car and the result instead of the journey, and it kind of makes you look past how special it's been to get to do this. So I'm personally just trying to figure out how to enjoy it."
To Bowman's point, his NASCAR journey has been anything but normal. He grew up racing on the West Coast while racking up feature wins in various USAC events. He then made select starts in the ARCA Menards Series in 2011-12 while winning six times.
But Bowman didn't go the then-traditional route of Truck Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, Cup Series. He ran 32 O'Reilly Series races in 2013 before landing a full-time Cup Series ride with the backmarker BK Racing in 2014.
Bowman spent one season with BK Racing and one season with Tommy Baldwin Racing (2015) before losing his ride. It appeared that his Cup Series journey would end, but he landed a role with Hendrick Motorsports. This led to him serving as an injury replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2016.
The Arizona native impressed the team during select starts, and he ultimately earned the opportunity to be Earnhardt's replacement in the No. 88 Chevrolet. He took over the ride in 2018 and has remained ever since while switching his number to 48 in 2021.
Wins have mostly eluded Bowman in the Gen 7 era of NASCAR for multiple reasons. Medical concerns have certainly played a role as he has missed 12 races due to concussions, a fractured vertebra, and vertigo.
Bowman entered the Gen 7 era with six career wins, including four in the 2021 season. He then won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022 and on the streets of Chicago in 2024.
Bowman has dealt with more frustrating moments than happy ones over the past five seasons while watching teammates Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Chase Elliott combine for 44 wins. Larson has also won two of his three championships in the past two seasons.
Super fast, got run into the fence, less fast but still kinda fast. Grumpy meter maxed out over here but proud of the team for a top 5 with so much damage.
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) May 11, 2025
Bowman has experienced changes on his team, most notably atop the pit box. Greg Ives, the crew chief with whom he won seven races, stepped away from the role after 2022. Blake Harris took over in 2023, but he closed out his tenure after the 2026 season.
Harris will now go to Trackhouse Racing to partner with Shane van Gisbergen while a new crew chief takes over Bowman's team for his final season.
Bowman doesn't know who will lead the No. 48 team during his final season; he says that he hasn't been a part of the discussions at Hendrick Motorsports.
Regardless of who the team chooses, Bowman has made it clear what he will need from his new crew chief as he closes out his final season in the Cup Series.
"Hendrick Motorsports, we have so much stuff and tools and like things to make decisions based off of, so being able to cipher through those efficiently and lead the group and be a good leader is important," Bowman said.
"I'm not the most natural leader in the world, right? Like I'm shy and awkward and kind of stick to myself. So having a good strong leader as a crew chief is important."
