COMMENTARY: Bowman's Win A Testimony To Persistence

It is only fitting that Alex Bowman’s first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup victory came with a double dose of persistence.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver battled back after being passed for the lead by Kyle Larson with just eight laps remaining to win Sunday’s Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Bowman regained the top spot from Larson with a daring, high-line pass, then held on to win by .546-seconds to claim the first victory of his MENCS career. Joey Logano overcame early struggles to finish third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. 

Like Sunday’s win, Bowman’s career has been a study in patience and persistence. 

His first national attention came when he claimed Rookie of the Year honors on NASCAR's K&N Pro Series East in 2011, outracing highly touted, second-generation driver Chase Elliott for the honor. Two unremarkable seasons with the underfunded BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing Cup Series teams did little to raise his competitive stock, but he was set to race for Baldwin again in 2016 until being informed that his services would not be required, less than a month before the season-opening Daytona 500.

Bowman (88) and Larson (42)
battled hard for the win.

He spent the 2016 campaign as HMS’ simulator driver, rarely climbing behind the wheel of an actual race car until Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was sidelined with concussion symptoms at midseason. Bowman replaced NASCAR's Most Popular Driver in 10 events, splitting time with former series champion Jeff Gordon and performing as well as either Gordon or Earnhardt.

When Earnhardt was eventually forced to retire at the end of the 2017 campaign, Bowman was tabbed to replace him in Rick Hendrick's potent No. 88 Chevrolet. 

Success, however, was not immediate,

He finished 16th in last year's championship standings with just three Top-5 and 11 Top-10 finishes, slogging through a season that saw the entire Hendrick organization struggle to get a grip on Chevrolet's new Camaro ZL-1. This season began in a similar fashion, with no Top-10 finishes in Bowman's first nine starts, despite an outside-pole qualifying effort in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Bowman is a MENCS winner at last.

The tide began to turn in late April at Talladega, where Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives recorded the first of three consecutive runner-up finishes. Second-place runs at Dover and Kansas were quickly followed by a seventh at Charlotte and a 10th at Dover, serving notice that Bowman was finally ready to contend for Victory Lane.

Despite those solid showings, however, Bowman has been hounded by rumors of his potential replacement at HMS. Lately, the internet railbirds have chattered incessantly about a move by Larson from Chip Ganassi Racing to Hendrick, taking the wheel of the iconic No. 88 Chevrolet.

Team owner Rick Hendrick attempted to silence that speculation recently, saying, "Alex is having a breakout season and showing the world just how talented he is. He’s signed through next year, and will be a big part of our future.” That endorsement did little to cam the speculative storm, and last month's announcement that Nationwide Insurance will depart as sponsor at season's end pumped up the volume even further.

How ironic, then, that Bowman's win Sunday came at the expense of Larson, after the driver known as "Yung Money" wrestled the lead away from Bowman with just a handful of laps remaining.

“It’s all I’ve wanted my whole life,” said a beaming Bowman in Victory Lane. “I feel like this is validation for a lot of people that said we couldn’t do this. My guys have worked so hard and we struggled so bad last year and the beginning of this year. I had questions if Mr. Hendrick was going to let me keep doing this. All the rumor mills. But, to be here winning a race in the Cup Series means so much.

“I was tired of running second,” he admitted. “I felt like we had a car capable of winning. We got held up there for a little while. I got super frustrated with some lapped cars not helping us. They don't have to help us, but that's just kind of part of it. We lost a big lead and I got pretty frustrated, burned the right rear tire off trying to get around some lapped cars. And when Kyle got around me, I was going to tear the right side off it, try and run the fence, or get back around him.

"(I’m) glad we kept it out of the fence, and I was kind of surprised that he left the top open the way he did and left clean air up there. I guess I should have moved up there earlier. But I didn't want to run second again. I don't come from a racing family, I don't have a big resume. I went from running in the back every week to doing this, and still not really sure how that all happened, but it's been a heck of a ride. I’m just very thankful for the opportunity and thankful for getting to work with people like Greg Ives and this 88 team.”

Sunday’s race was red-flagged after just 11 laps by high winds and torrential rain that forced a 3½-hour delay that added yet another element of patience and persistence to Bowman's day. The rain even impacted his victory lap, as the 26-year old driver slid into the infield and was unable to escape.

Undaunted, he climbed atop his stranded car and thrust his arms skyward, celebrating a victory that was  well worth the wait.