“That rumor has actually been annoying,” mentioned Bowman throughout NASCAR Playoff Media Day on Wednesday.
“Clearly, my contract is thru the tip of 2026. All I can let you know is like what my bosses have informed me, and that’s that there are not any plans to alter something. Yeah, rumors are simply rumors. Hopefully they’ll get their bulletins completed so my rumors cease, clearly. Yeah, so far as I do know, I’m driving the No. 48 subsequent yr.”
Bowman, who made the 2024 playoffs by way of a win on the Chicago Avenue Course, lags simply behind his teammates in most season-long stats. It has been a good season for him, however Hendrick Motorsports is anticipated to carry out at degree past most of their rivals. Earlier than Chicago, it had been over two years since Bowman’s final race win. He additionally missed races in 2022 as a result of a concussion and 2023 as a result of a again damage, which proved to be vital setbacks.
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally Chevrolet Camaro
Picture by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
When pressed on if there may be any likelihood he could possibly be out at HMS, Bowman added: “I don’t assume so. I belief my bosses and that’s what they’ve informed me. So yeah, aside from that, simply targeted on making an attempt to be robust the subsequent 10 weeks.”
The rumblings, even when unfounded, brought about Bowman to hunt affirmation on his place inside the group.
“Yeah, I imply for me – like that’s a rumor that I’ve heard for a month,” he defined. “It obtained to the purpose the place I picked up the cellphone and known as all people, and all people mentioned, ‘completely not’. So, that’s actually all I’ve to go on and I don’t have a cause to imagine something aside from that. There’s no – ‘oh, you could do that to maintain your job.’ Prefer it’s completely not … all the pieces’s effective.”
A “depressing month”
Bowman first drove for Hendrick Motorsports because the fill-in driver for a sidelined Dale Earnhardt Jr. late within the 2016 season. He grew to become a full-time for the powerhouse group in 2018 and has since gained eight races. Half of these victories got here throughout a single season (2021), and solely as soon as has he ended the yr increased than twelfth within the standings.
“We have to go run higher. It’s been a depressing month,” admitted Bowman, who enters the playoffs with 5 straight finishes of sixteenth or worse. “We haven’t executed on a excessive degree in any respect, so we have to go run higher the subsequent 10 weeks. However we have to try this for us and our playoff run — for Ally and the No. 48 group. There’s no ‘you could do that to maintain your job.’ So far as I do know, I’m not fearful about that in any respect.”
