2024 was the year of redemption for Alex Bowman in the NASCAR Cup Series. Heading into the 2024 season, the #48 driver had not reached Victory Lane since Las Vegas in 2022. Fortunately, at the Chicago Street Course this year, he finally managed to redeem himself with a win and secure a playoff berth. Despite that, he failed to make it past the round of 12 and ended the year in 9th place. Though being fair, he missed out on the Round of 8 for reasons beyond his control.
Heading into 2024, the Hendrick Motorsports driver desperately needed good results. In 2022, he was out of action for a few races, thanks to a concussion sustained from an accident at Texas Motor Speedway. He missed five races on the trot, only returning for the season finale at Phoenix. The next season, Bowman missed out on a few more races because of an injury at a High Limit Racing event at 34 Raceway in Iowa where Bowman was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra. For the rest of the year, he failed to win a race and did not reach the playoffs.
So when he triumphed at the Chicago Street Course, it was a massive relief. When the playoffs began, Bowman made it past the Round of 16 and into the Round of 12. Then came a controversial moment at the Charlotte Roval. He had technically qualified for the Round of 8, knocking Joey Logano out. However, Bowman was disqualified after failing post-race inspection, and Logano was reinstated.
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Alex Bowman was gutted to miss out so cruelly
Reflecting on a rollercoaster of a season, Bowman told Racer, “It certainly was disappointing and (it’s) part of racing, sometimes. That stuff is going to happen, and unfortunately, we let it happen. It was certainly disappointing but I don’t think it deflated our race team. It didn’t really change much of what we were doing; I think we continued to operate at a high level.” Despite disappointment at the Roval, Bowman was a star in the 2024 playoffs. The HMS driver manages five top-10 finishes in 10 playoff races this year!
Bowman continued, “Obviously, Phoenix didn’t go how we wanted it to, but other than that, I felt like we did a really good job the rest of the season. Martinsville looks bad on paper but we ran 13th at Martinsville with no power steering for the last half of the race. So, we were doing the right things for sure.” Bowman ended the season with a disappointing 14th-place finish at Phoenix which landed him 9th in the drivers championship.
via Getty DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – SEPTEMBER 01: Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, looks on after the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 01, 2024 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
This was supposed to be Alex Bowman’s redemption arc, and it got ruined. Given that Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are champions, and William Byron is a consistent title contender. It is easy to dismiss Alex Bowman as the weak link for Hendrick Motorsports. His triumph at Chicago after two tumultuous years showed that Rick Hendrick’s faith in him was not misplaced.
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Bowman put in a consistent run in 2024 with seven Top 5 finishes, including 2nd at the Daytona 500. Truthfully, he was so close to unseating teammate William Byron as the Daytona 500 victor. Beyond that, he also recorded nine Top 10 finishes in the 2024 season, and all that helped him to his best finish in the driver’s standings (9) since 2020 (6th).
What happened during that controversial elimination?
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What made things all the more gutting was that the Roval race was a cut-off point. Alex Bowman finished 6th at Kansas and 16th at Talladega, and needed to either win or outscore his nearest rivals. When the checkered flag fell, Bowman finished in 18th place and scored just enough to squeak through to the Round of 8. His closest competition was Joey Logano 10 places ahead, and the qualification meant that he automatically sealed his berth.
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As it turned out, the #48 Chevrolet car was found to be underweight. This moved Bowman all the way down to 38th place while Logano leapfrogged him into the round of 8. Unfortunately, Hendrick Motorsports chose not to appeal the decision because they felt that they lacked evidence to back it up as they were given multiple opportunities to make the weight after the race as well. A section of the statement put out by HMS read, “After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable. We are extremely disappointed to lose a playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners.”
This was arguably the turning point of the 2024 Cup series championship, as Logano went on to win in Vegas and then Phoenix to seal his third championship. Alex Bowman must have been kicking himself. Now, all he can do is wonder what could have been, and hope that 2025 brings better fortune.