CONCORD, N.C. – Fresh off his fourth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, Alex Bowman looks to carry that momentum forward as he heads to one of his best tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Bowman's Bristol result marks his second top-five finish of the season, with his runner-up finish in the DAYTONA 500 as the first. He is one of seven drivers to have multiple top-five runs through the first five races of the 2024 season.
Looking ahead to Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Bowman is one of three drivers to finish in the top 10 in all three Cup Series races at the Austin, Texas, road course and he is one of four drivers with multiple top-five finishes there.
Bowman's 4.33 average finish at COTA is his best at any track in the series. That mark ranks third in the series – Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott's mark of 2.50 is the best, although he has done that in one less start. Bowman also scored the third-most points (114) on this track. At COTA, Bowman had the fifth-best average running position (8.97) in 2022 and the fourth-best average running position (7.25) in 2023. With those stats, it is no wonder that the 20-turn track is the favorite road course for the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
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"It is such a mix between the different types of corners throughout the track," Bowman told HendrickMotorsports.com of the 3.41-mile road course. "We run really well there."
In the inaugural race at COTA In 2021, Bowman led three laps en route to an eighth-place finish. The 2022 race saw Bowman fighting for the race win on the final lap and in the final corners with Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger. After passing Chastain and Allmendinger to take the lead with two corners left, Chastain's contact with Allmendinger sent him into the No. 48 Chevy. As a result, Bowman lost the lead but recovered to finish second. Last year's event saw Bowman spend much of the race in the top five and survive multiple overtime attempts to finish third.
"We all had a fresh start at it. You are not going up against guys that have been doing it for 20 years at a newer road course," Bowman said of what he believes has led to his strong runs at COTA. "It is a unique place for us and has many different aspects. You have to be pretty versatile and it has always kind of fit me."
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The Tucson, Arizona, native is an underrated road course racer with five top-five finishes and 12 top-10s in 30 career Cup Series starts on that track type. The 30-year-old driver's best road course results are his second-place finishes at COTA (2022) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL (2019). He is one of two drivers with multiple runner-up finishes without a win on a road course. Last year, he finished in the top five at COTA and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and picked up a top 10 at the Charlotte ROVAL.
Bowman is also looking for his first back-to-back top fives since October of the 2020 season when he finished third at Kansas Speedway and fifth at Texas Motor Speedway.
Tune in to watch the action in Texas at the first of five road course races this season on Sunday, March 24, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).