CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Alex Bowman’s playoff motivation runs deep.
There is the motivation to end the five-year full-time partnership with Greg Ives on the strongest possible note and the motivation to prove the pundits wrong by making a deep run in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
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The Bowman-Ives partnership has produced seven wins together, the fifth-most among active driver-crew chief pairings. Five of those wins have come in the last two seasons and that’s the third-most wins by drivers during that span.
“Trying to finish Greg’s tenure as crew chief on a high note is important to me,” Bowman said. “Super focused on kicking butt for the next 10 races.”
Bowman is a perfect five-for-five to make the playoffs during his time at Hendrick Motorsports. All of that has come with Ives atop the pit box for his team, first in the No. 88 Chevrolet and then in the No. 48 Chevrolet.
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The Tucson, Arizona, native enters this year’s 10-race playoff as the 15th seed with 2,006 points, one win, three top fives and 10 top 10 finishes. A summer stretch was a losing streak for Bowman and the team and that has left him a sleeper.
“We’re under the radar,” Bowman said. “We’re the underdogs. No matter how much we make, it somehow counts. We’re here to prove people wrong.”
He won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, a track that’s part of this year’s Round of 8 but is a former 1.5-mile playoff track notable for the driver of the No. 48. Kansas Speedway has been one of Bowman’s favourites. best tracks at Hendrick Motorsports. He has six top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts there, including a nine-place run this spring in the Next Gen car.
“I really enjoy Kansas,” Bowman said. “It’s a fun place. I like that you can move around a lot. I’ve won a few races there with different race cars. It was one of the places we had success together in 2016. The options that track gives you is really cool.” .
The 29-year-old’s best playoff finish to date was reaching the Round of 16 in 2020. He reached the Round of 16 in 2018, 2019 and 2021. Those past trips to the playoffs helped him take note of several lessons. to apply during delete formatting.
“I don’t think you can try to do anything more than you’ve done all year,” Bowman said. “You just have to run well. You can’t get any better. You have to be ready for when those 10 weeks come around. We’ve been able to put together some really good runs in the playoffs in the past, so hopefully we can have another good one.”
Bowman and the No. 48 team will kick off the playoffs at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 4 at 6 pm ET on USA Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).