Alex Bowman
Alex Michael Bowman (born April 25, 1993), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports. He owns a Dirt Midget and Sprint car racing team named Alex Bowman Racing. He is known for a record five consecutive front-row starts in the Daytona 500, from 2018 to 2022, winning the pole in 2018 and 2021. Bowman has developed a reputation  among his fellow drivers as a closer; Three of his seven wins have come after Bowman passed the leader with ten or fewer laps to go. He is known by many nicknames, the most predominant being "Bowman the Showman". Denny Hamlin called him "just a hack" after a late-race collision at Martinsville in 2021 took Hamlin out of contention for the win. Bowman responded by making a T-shirt with Hamlin's quote on it. Following a 2022 race at Las Vegas, Kyle Busch said Bowman was "all luck, no skill" after Bowman won the race by not pitting  during a late-race caution. Bowman responded by making another T-shirt. Racing career. Beginnings. A native of Tucson, Arizona, Bowman started his racing career on short tracks in Arizona and California in 2000 at the age of seven, driving quarter midget cars in United States Auto Club (USAC) competition. By 2006, he had won nine national championships and had 165 feature wins. Midget racing. In 2008, he won the USAC National Focus Midget championship with 11 wins, as well as the California Dirt Focus Midget championship. In 2009, he was named USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year. In  February 2010, Bowman was injured in an accident during a USAC race, suffering a fractured clavicle and rib. Bowman continues to field a midget in select races, competing himself at the 2016 Chili Bowl and fielding a car for driver Ryan Smith in 2017. K&N Pro Series. In 2010, at the age of 17, he moved to full-bodied stock car racing, making two Rev-Oil Pro Cup starts and a late model start. Bowman moved to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with X Team Racing for 2011. Bowman finished sixth in series points, winning Rookie of the Year . In 2018, Bowman made his return to the west series at Sonoma Raceway, driving the No. 24 for Bill McAnally Racing. ARCA Racing Series. Bowman also competed in two ARCA Racing Series events during 2011 for Venturini Motorsports, at Madison International Speedway and Kansas Speedway, winning both events. He moved full-time to ARCA for 2012 for Cunningham Motorsports as a development driver for Penske Racing, winning races at Salem Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Iowa Speedway, and Kansas Speedway over the course of the year. He also won the pole for the inaugural ARCA Mobile 200 at Mobile International Speedway. Xfinity  and Truck Series. 2012. Also in 2012, Bowman made his debut at the national level of NASCAR competition, driving for Turner Motorsports in the Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway. He finished 17th in his debut race; he also drove for RAB Racing in the Nationwide Series at Kentucky Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, and for Turner at Dover International Speedway, towards the end of 2012. 2013. In January 2013, it was announced that Bowman would be running the full Nationwide Series season for RAB in 2013, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. He would win his first career Nationwide  pole at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas. Bowman would win another pole at Texas later in the season, but was released by the team prior to the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Bowman ended the season with six top-tens in 32 starts. 2014. Bowman returned to the Nationwide Series in 2014, driving the No. 80 for Hattori Racing Enterprises at Dover, while driving the No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevy at Charlotte and Phoenix. 2015. During the 2015 season, Bowman made starts in the Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) Series with Athenian Motorsports and a Camping World Truck  Series race with JRM. 2016. On November 11, Bowman joined JRM for nine races in the No. 88 for the 2016 Xfinity season. He won a pole at Michigan and finished in the top-ten in all but two races. Despite the success, Bowman struggled to find sponsorship that would grant him the opportunity to race full-time for JRM. 2017. In 2017, Bowman joined GMS Racing to run the Truck Series race at Atlanta in the No. 24 as a fill-in driver for Justin Haley, who was too young to race at the track. In October and November , Bowman drove the No. 42 Xfinity car of Chip Ganassi Racing at Charlotte and Phoenix. At Charlotte, Bowman dominated the final portion of the race following a late restart to win his first NASCAR national series race. 2022. In 2022, it was announced by Spire Motorsports that Bowman would be driving their #7 truck series entry at COTA with sponsorship from HendrickCars.com.<ref>