Alex Bowman drove his No. 48 Ally x Unrivaled League Chevrolet to the pole for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — If anyone needed a microcosm into Alex Bowman‘s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, then look at his record at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400.
In the season’s five races, Bowman has four top 10 results, good enough for fifth in the points standings. Similarly, the Tucson, Arizona, native’s results at the 1.5-mile intermediate track plays out almost the same way with three top 10s in nine career starts.
Since joining Hendrick Motorsports full-time in 2018, Bowman has finished 28th, ninth, 18th, ninth, 19th and seventh at Homestead. While not earth shattering, the 30-year-old racer knows his solid results have not been straightforward at this venue or this year.
“Yeah, we’ve had interesting days. We just haven’t had a day that went okay for us and everything,” Bowman said. “We executed all day and we ended up where we ended up.
“Like something’s kind of happened every race that we’ve had to overcome, so I would like to have some clean days because I feel like we can be further up front than we have been at the end of these things. But it certainly could be a lot worse too.”
Such is the way of life in the Cup Series at least in 2025. Drivers like Bowman seem to have a mountain to climb, an obstacle to overcome on race weekends. While Atlanta is the only blemish this season with a 26th place result, the quiet, unassuming driver has placed ninth or better in the past three races.
The ups and downs are not lost upon Bowman’s mindset even after winning the pole for Sunday’s race at Homestead.
Alex Bowman drove his No. 48 Ally x Unrivaled League Chevrolet on the ragged edge to the pole for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
“There’s plenty of things that could have completely taken us out of races that we’ve overcame,” he said. “And we’ve had some cautions fall our way to kind of save us from messes we’ve made too.
“So yeah, I think we’re in a good spot. I think our cars are fast, which is really something to feel good about. And yeah, if we can just execute, I think we’ll be pretty good.”
Going into Sunday’s race, Bowman’s No. 48 Ally x Unrivaled League Chevrolet appears to be a pretty good ride at the South Florida track. Before qualifying, Bowman posted the seventh fastest overall time and 14th quickest in a 10-lap consecutive run in Saturday’s practice session.
In other words, the pace may be there to thrive at this racetrack that suits the drivers and entertains fans.
“Yeah, when your race car is good, it’s really, really fun,” Bowman observed. “But it just gives you options. It is still really hard to pass, for sure, just like anywhere else we go. But there’s so many different lines you can run, and running the wall can be so technical and a lot of fun.”
One’s idea of fun at Homestead may vary from person to person where running along the walls is the optimum way to thrive. That is all the more reason for Bowman’s desire to excel at this venue starting on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s so high risk that there’s not many other things that we do that are that high risk, I don’t think, aside from maybe making speed at the Chicago street course or some of those places. And maybe not so much with this car as it was with the steel body car, but it still makes it a lot of fun.
“So yeah, I enjoy it. This hasn’t been one of my better racetracks, so a place that I’m working on a lot, and I’m glad to at least be on the good side of things on Saturday, so far.”
Naturally, Bowman, like any competitive athlete, wants to elevate his execution to battle for a win. The prevailing theme seems to be executing cleanly, one of those easier said than done goals for the Hendrick Motorsports racer.
Alex Bowman has one of the quickest short and long run cars for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)
“I thought we were OK at Homestead last fall, but it was not great,” Bowman said in a team press release. “[Homestead-Miami] is a difficult track since its very low grip causing us all to slip and slide all over the place. You have to have a lot of confidence in your car running up against the fence on the long runs to try and get all the grip you can.
“The short runs you have more options with lines and can use various different driving skills. This track is not one of my better ones but I’m trying to get better there and I know my No. 48 team has been working really hard to gain wherever we can. We’ve had speed so I hope we can execute, have a clean race and be in contention at the end.”
Starting on the pole in a car wrapped in the dynamic colors of Unrivaled 3×3 women’s basketball, Bowman is doing more than merely sporting the colors of a thriving league. He attended one of the games during their inaugural season held outside of Miami.
“Yeah, that was cool. I got to go down there and and go to a couple of the games because they play a couple games at night, but cool atmosphere, cool experience and excited to get that car on the racetrack,” Bowman said during the Circuit of the Americas race weekend.
Representing a league that had the likes of Angel Reese, Arike Ogunbowale, Kahleah Copper, Kate Martin, Kayla McBride and Napheesa Collier, inquiring minds want to know if Breanna “Stewie” Stewart had the chance to wheel this car and if he got to meet the stars.
“Not yet. I think she might have driven the pace car or at least gotten some rides and Homestead before the game,” Bowman said with a playful smirk. “So yeah, it was kind of a messed up travel day trying to get down there for us.
“I tried to meet them all at the racetrack and like, airspace was closed and it was kind of a mess, but yeah, it was it was really cool to get to go down there and do that.”
