Alex Bowman hopes it is a lucky 13th starting position for Sunday’s Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO – As the first half of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season comes to a close, Alex Bowman may be a bit of a wild card for Sunday’s Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course.
Despite posting the 27th fastest time in Saturday’s practice session, he was 10th fastest in a 10-lap average, a potential sign of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro’s long run pace. Likewise, he starts 13th, just missing out on the final qualifying round to vie for the pole eventually won by Denny Hamlin.
Heading into the halfway point of the season, Bowman has three top fives and six top 10s, good enough for 17th in the championship standings. While the the 30-year-old Tucson, Arizona native missed three races, he has consistently shown speed at a variety of tracks.
Most recently, Bowman tallied a 17th place finish at Sonoma while logging a third-place result in Austin, Texas. Much like his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and William Byron, the ninth-year Cup racer knows his way around the serpentine road courses.
Some of that confidence carried over into this weekend’s activities at the Chicago Street Course. Mainly, he has kept out of trouble, perhaps with a bit of a conservative approach to feel out the track versus pushing the extremes and likely learning the track the hard way as Elliott experienced first hand with a crash in qualifying.
Bowman may be back to his sneaky but productive ways seen in the onset of the season. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
“I think it will be interesting,” Bowman said in a team press release. “We have experience on road courses, but nothing as tight and technical as Chicago. I think track position will be key this weekend.
“We will do all we can in the simulators to get a feel for what we think we need, use our notes from road courses and go try to compete this Sunday.”
Thus far, a methodical approach has paid dividends for Bowman and his team spearheaded by crew chief Blake Harris. While other contenders have crashed hard into the barriers as unwitting passengers, the No. 48 team has been astute, keen and, to a point, crafty when it comes to preparing for Sunday’s race.
Harris notes how he has turned to past notes with the team’s road course program. Likewise, it may be a baptism by fire experience when it comes to maximizing their performance and result at the 2.14-mile, 12-turn road course.
“There’s a lot of variables,” Harris said. “You have to be prepared for everything. Unfortunately, it’s an impound practice and qualifying so you are kind of locked in with what you have.
“We have a lot of good details and information in our notebooks for road course stuff, so it’s really just trying to pick and choose what is going to be most applicable to this race.”
