Alex Bowman secured a special Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alex Bowman may be one of the most methodical racers in the NASCAR Cup Series field with his patient, steady approach. That style may pay dividends in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, a bit of an oxymoron at the physical 0.533-mile concrete short track.
Typically, races at this high banked bullring are about trading paint, searching for the optimum line and driving around others for position or those running laps behind. Those will still hold true while considering how Goodyear has brought a tire that may degrade or wear without proper conservation.
Naturally, Bowman has the pace to contend in Sunday’s 500-lap race when he posted the 10th fastest overall time and eighth quickest 10-lap consecutive run in Saturday’s practice session. The 30-year-old native of Tucson, Arizona, backed it up with his second Busch Light Pole Award of the 2025 season and second consecutive pole at Bristol.
After clambering out of his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, Bowman immediately honored a fallen friend from the Hendrick Motorsports media and communications team, Jon Edwards who passed away this past week. Bowman commemorated his pole to Edwards, a beloved member of the racing community.
“It feels really good. Honestly, I’m just excited about a tire management race. I definitely want to dedicate this to Jon Edwards,” Bowman said to Regan Smith of NASCAR on Prime Sports.” It’s a huge loss for everybody at HMS, for his family and everybody that was close to him.
“He was probably my favorite person at HMS, one of the good guys for sure. He’s definitely going to be missed a lot. So, just proud of our Ally 48 team. Excited for a tire management race, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and we’ll see what we’ve got.”
Bowman can be depended upon as a solid frontrunner at the physical, grueling concrete short track. In 15 career starts, Bowman has three top fives and five top 10 finishes including three top top 10s in the past five races.
Alex Bowman earned his second Busch Light Pole Award ahead of Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
If last year’s Food City 500 was any indicator, it would be foolish to dismiss Bowman. Starting 29th, Bowman bided his time and finished fourth when others were besieged by the tire degradation issues. Still, he knows Mother Nature may deal an unpredictable hand to him, his team and his competitors.
“I think all signs point to a race like this spring, Bowman said. “We started practice with rubber already on the racetrack from the Xfinity cars, and peeled it right up, and sawed the tires right off. So, yeah, confusing why we’re doing it again when we didn’t do it in the fall. I don’t think the weather — obviously it’s really cold today, but I don’t know.
“It’s going to be warmer [on Sunday], so maybe that changes it. It’s really difficult to say. I think it’s going to be like that, but we’re going to find out together, I think.”
Even with the praises of crew chief Blake Harris about a strong start to the season, Bowman downplays his role behind the wheel. Instead, he offers his support where it can matter most for the diligent women and men working behind the scenes — the Hendrick Motorsports campus in Concord, North Carolina.
“Yeah, that’s Blake being nice,” he said with his witty tone. “He’s in the shop way more than me. But yeah, I try to hang out with the guys a little bit during the week when they don’t have me doing anything. I get some free time. I live pretty close to the shop, so it’s easy to take one of the dogs over there and go hang out, sit around the setup plate. But yeah, I mean just trying to be successful.
“Obviously, we saw that in the Playoffs last year that we all bought in and worked really hard and found success, and just trying to keep that going. Obviously, it’s been a rough two weeks on the 48 team. Last week, I did not execute at a high level. I drove the race car into the fence at a high rate of speed. But I think just trying to be better every week and work as hard as it takes to continue to run well.”
At times, Bowman’s humility and dry sense of humor can offer glimpses into his on track approach. Maybe his conservative approach will pay off with a trip to the hallowed grounds of Victory Lane.
Alex Bowman converses with Ricky Stenhouse during Saturday’s on track session for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
“I mean, I guess I just drive slower than everybody. I do that most weeks, but on weeks like this, it pays off,” he shared. “I think it’s interesting when guys cord their tires and which tire they cord and how that makes them fall off. It’s interesting how the progression goes. So just trying to probably cord the correct tire; manage your builds and save yourself as long as you can.
“I wasn’t in the front of the field much in the spring until the end, and those guys — it was kind of funny how one guy would go lead and start to slow down, and another guy would go lead. Nobody wanted to lead and set the pace, so we’ll see how it goes.”
There is no telling how Sunday’s race will unfold other than Bowman having another fast, strong No. 48 Chevrolet. No matter the number of past Bristol races he may watch, what matters is that behind the wheel experience and utilizing his time best and efficiently.
“Yeah, I don’t think they ever let us get away with ‘go watch some sports on TV’, at least for me,” Bowman said. “I’ve got to try really hard to run remotely good. But yeah, I think for me, probably look at the guys that ran really well in the spring, that finished well, and how they managed the race. I think at the end of the race, we were one of them.
“But throughout the majority of the race, we saved too much and kept getting those cautions. So it’ll be interesting to see where that winds up. But yeah, probably look at the guys that were good in the spring, and then if there’s not tire wear, you feel like you wasted a couple of hours. But we’ll see.”
