Alex Bowman racing up the long front stretch at Circuit Of The Americas during the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix NASCAR Cup Series race. (Photo Credit: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)
DEL VALLE, Texas – After suffering a course-cutting penalty and falling back outside the top 30, the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman, kept his head down all afternoon to finish ninth in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit Of The Americas.
The Tuscon, Arizona native had begun the weekend running inside the top five in both practice sessions, but the momentum did not translate over to qualifying, as Bowman put his car in the 21st starting spot for Sunday’s race, lining up alongside Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
As the 37-car field took the green flag for 95 scheduled laps, Bowman cautiously let the chaos play out in front of him at the top of Turn 1.
The 2022 winner at Circuit Of The Americas, Ross Chastain, raced his No. 1 Chevrolet deep into the first corner, driving into the side of Bowman’s teammate, Chase Elliott, sending the driver of the No. 9 spinning. As most of the top 15 went around slowly on the outside, Bowman was able to nab almost a dozen spots from the spin and found himself in 11th as the field went down the hill into Turn 2.
On Lap 9 of the race, Bowman skillfully made his way into the top 10 for the first time, executing a well-timed maneuver to overtake the No. 71 of Michael McDowell.
With less than three laps remaining in Stage 1, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet was among the first to head to pit road to implement a short pit strategy for the stage. He took on four tires and fuel, and after the stop, he returned to the track in 12th position.
Bowman finished Stage 1 in 12th place, falling behind both A.J. Allmendinger and Chase Briscoe. However, after the pit stops, he advanced to ninth place for the restart when Shane van Gisbergen led the field back to green on Lap 25, marking the beginning of Stage 2.
The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet maintained a position within the top 10 for most of the lengthy green flag run during the second stage. He made a pit stop on Lap 42, just four laps before the stage ended.
Bowman finished in 19th place at the end of Stage 2, having passed RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher. Although he did not earn any stage points in either stage, Bowman and the No. 48 team were preparing to be competitive when it mattered most at the end of the race.
Alex Bowman (No. 48) running ahead of Chris Buescher (No. 17) going into Turn 6A in the 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit Of The Americas. (Photo Credit: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)
Five laps after the restart in the final stage of the event, Daniel Suárez spun coming off the exit of Turn 19, collecting Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, who was also making his NASCAR Cup Series debut, ending both of their days. While the caution came out, Bowman suffered a stop-and-go penalty before the yellow flag waved. He also tried to come down pit road before the lights came on and was forced to the tail end of the field in 33rd for the restart with 41 laps to go.
It seemed that his day continued to get worse after the No. 42 Toyota Camry entry of John Hunter Nemechek drove it in way too deep into Turn 15, sending Bowman for a spin off his bumper.
Bowman suffered his second stop-and-go penalty of the day while running 10th. This relegated him to 11th, and he still had to make his green flag pit stop. Bowman cycled back into 28th position, as it seemed that his positive day was going from bad to worse quickly.
However, Bowman got a big break on Lap 79 when Denny Hamlin locked his brakes going into Turn 6A, collecting the No. 3 of Austin Dillon, sending Dillon into the gravel, and bringing out the final caution of the day.
Bowman had gathered himself back up and was ready to roll the dice once again as the field took the green flag with 13 laps to go in the event from 16th place.
While the four-car battle for the lead was going on at the front, Bowman picked off positions one by one, clearing both Team Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric with under 10 laps to go to settle into 13th.
Elliott, who was also recovering from a rough day, raced through the field with Bowman in their late-race charge.
Bowman cracked into the top 10 with under five laps to go, passing Todd Gilliland with ease as Bowman continued to press the attack all the way until the checkered flag. He then made his final pass of the race as he took the white flag, easily going by a fading Chastain, who would ultimately fall back to 12th when the checkered flag flew, to take ninth place.
With the ninth-place run, Bowman has continued his top-10 streak at COTA, as in all five races, the eight-time NASCAR Cup Series winner has finished with a top 10 in every race dating back to its inaugural event in 2021. His average finish now stands at 4.5, sitting behind Tyler Reddick, who leads that category with an average finish of 3.5.
Bowman currently resides seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series standings heading into next Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway on March 9 for the running of the Shriners Children’s 500.
