Against all odds, Alex Bowman extended his top-10 streak at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Entering last weekend’s race, Bowman was one of three drivers in the field, along with Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick, who had scored top-10 finishes in all four previous COTA races. With Reddick qualifying on the pole and Chastain starting ninth, it stood to reason that both drivers had a good shot to earn strong finishes. Bowman, on the other hand, was set to roll off 21st. He and the No. 48 team would have a lot of ground to make up if they wanted to race for the win.
It turned out that speed was not a problem for Bowman, who quickly worked his way through the field during the first stage. However, a couple of mistakes and bad timing nearly derailed the No. 48 Chevrolet. Twice during the afternoon, Bowman received penalties for short cutting the esses in turns 4 and 5. One of those infractions occurred just before a caution came out, which made things even worse. Instead of briefly stopping in the runoff area near turn 14, Bowman had to drop to the tail of the field to serve his penalty, meaning that he gave up virtually all his track position. Restarting the race outside the top 30, it looked like Bowman’s chances to get a decent finish were gone.
Yet as so often happens in the NASCAR Cup Series, the final laps of the race provided opportunities to shake up the running order. The last caution of the race came out with 18 laps to go after Austin Dillon got stuck in a gravel trap. This caution allowed several drivers from the middle of the field on back, including Bowman, to pit for fresh tires. The No. 48 team now had a better chance to work its way through the pack, but only if Bowman could survive the chaos of the final laps.
While Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Reddick battled for the race win, the rest of the drivers scratched and clawed for every position that they could get. FOX’s cameras missed most of the action as the fight for the lead unfolded, but there was plenty of movement going on back in the pack.
Here’s a taste of what was happening around Bowman. Chase Briscoe spun Ty Gibbs, creating a stack-up behind the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Kyle Larson’s bad day got worse with a late spin. AJ Allmendinger tumbled through the field after running in the top 10 all afternoon. Joey Logano fell through the field in the closing laps. Brad Keselowski fought his way to 15th as his cool suit failed and had to be wheeled off pit road on a stretcher. Chastain, on the last lap, bolted away from Chase Elliott, who he spun out in turn 1 on the first lap. Bowman avoided it all and crossed the finish line in ninth place. His top-10 streak is still intact.
Bowman does not typically get the credit he deserves for being a strong road course racer. For that matter, he too often feels like the forgotten man at Hendrick Motorsports. Perhaps it comes with the territory of having teammates like Byron, Larson and Elliott who account for 15 road course wins among themselves.
But Bowman should not be underestimated at road courses. His most recent win is at last season’s Chicago street course race, where he held off Reddick in a fierce battle for victory on a wet track. Remember that Bowman also dropped out early from the 2023 Chicago race and did not have experience running the closing laps of the race on the street course. Even with that disadvantage, he beat one of the best in the business in Reddick and earned a victory that was pivotal to the No. 48 team’s participation in the postseason. Without Bowman’s road course skills, his 2024 season would have been much less successful.
Besides, it is not just COTA and Chicago where Bowman has excelled. He has never finished worse than 16th at Sonoma Raceway in his six starts there with HMS. Watkins Glen International is his weakest road course, but it is another track where Bowman has consistently stayed out of trouble and been able to run every lap since he joined forces with Hendrick. And while Bowman has never won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, he has finished in the top 10 in five of his six starts there. The only blemish was last year’s post-race disqualification.
The Cup Series will not run another road course race until its inaugural trip to Mexico City in June, so Bowman will need some strong runs on ovals to keep up his good start to 2025. He is seventh in overall points, 29 behind Byron for the lead and 20 above the playoff cut line. Much like Byron, Bowman tends to start strong each season only to stumble during the summer and never quite recover his early-season pace once the playoffs arrive. A combination of mistakes and bad luck have often kept Bowman from making deep postseason runs. Yet Sunday’s race suggests that Bowman and the No. 48 team have the tenacity to fight back from misfortune. Perhaps the disappointment of last year’s playoffs has given them some resiliency.
His teammates may get more headlines but do not overlook Bowman in 2025, either at road courses or anywhere else on the Cup Series tour.
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.