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The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are here, and there are quite a few underdogs that locked themselves into the playoffs. Though it feels like a shock to say that Alex Bowman is one of these underdogs, can he make the right moves to set himself up for success?
Bowman has a history of shock wins, seemingly having a good run almost out of nowhere. These runs date back to his first season at HMS, a part-time schedule in 2016.
Bowman, a journeyman driver, found his way to HMS with the endorsement of the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr., as Bowman, alongside Jeff Gordon, took over the No. 88 part-time in 2016.
Alex sat on the poll at Phoenix that fall and almost won the race; as a rough restart late in the race knocked him out of contention. His consistency in the car set Bowman up to take over after Earnhardt’s 2017 retirement.
A consistent yet winless rookie campaign led to a four-season winning streak from 2019 to 2022. During this stretch, Bowman looked like the ultimate underdog.
His wins have come on a flurry of diverse tracks, Road Courses, Short Tracks, and Intermediates. Notably, the playoffs include all of these types of tracks.
Both Martinsville and Las Vegas are playoff races, tracks that Bowman has won at. Most importantly in his playoff quest, Martinsville is the final race in the Round of Eight, the final cutoff round.
Calling Bowman an underdog is a difficult description for an HMS driver. However, since 2022, Bowman has had the least wins of the four full-time HMS drivers.
Bowman has dealt with injuries and hasn’t adjusted to the Next Gen car like Kyle Larson and William Byron have. But in the pursuit of a championship, Bowman couldn’t have asked to be in a better team.
All four HMS drivers are in the Playoffs. While not the only four-car team to do so, Rick Hendricks boys have seen success in the NASCAR postseason.
With Championship wins in 2016, 2020, and 2021 and Championship Four drivers in all but four seasons since 2014, HMS has an almost unmatched Playoff Pedigree.
While teammates and team success can play big in a playoff run, Bowman himself may be the defining factor in an underdog Championship.
Alex Bowman’s 2024 has been a redemption year. With the 11th-best average finish in full-time driver standings, Bowman is an underdog in name only.
A driving factor in his 2024 is Bowman’s tough 2022 and 2023. As mentioned earlier, Bowman missed multiple races due to injury.
In 2022, Bowman crashed at Texas Motor Speedway and suffered a concussion, missing five races. In 2023, a back injury sustained racing in a dirt race left Bowman out of three races.
With these injuries, alongside a tough adjustment to the Next Gen car, some have wondered if Bowman could be on the rocks at HMS, a rumor spread by the cast of Door Bumper Clear.
Twice this year, comments from the podcast have stirred the pot that Bowman was on thin ice before his Chicago win and recently that if he doesn’t perform in the Playoffs, he will be out of the No. 48.
Bowman told multiple outlets that these were untrue, even publicly saying that he had asked HMS about his security, and they said he was locked in. Now, the question is whether or not Bowman takes these comments as a chip on his shoulder.
Words have built momentum in NASCAR, as recently as Harrison Burton’s win at Daytona after his firing from the Wood Brothers. Bowman, once again an underdog in a stacked field, may have what he needs to fuel an upset playoff run that has yet to be seen in NASCAR history.
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