Former ARCA Menards Series winner Alex Bowman scored his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in Sunday’s rain-delayed Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. In the No. 88 Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman led – appropriately – 88 laps on the day including the final six after a late-race duel with Kyle Larson.
Bowman won six times in his brief ARCA career, including the first two races he entered at Madison and Kansas in 2011 while driving for Venturini Motorsports. In 2012, Bowman ran the entire schedule for owners Kerry Scherer and Briggs Cunningham and won four more times at Salem, Winchester, Iowa, and again at Kansas. In 21 starts, Bowman earned six wins, 13 top-five finishes, 15 top-ten finishes, and six General Tire Pole Awards. He finished fourth in the series championship standings in 2012 behind series champ Chris Buescher, runner-up Frank Kimmel and third-place Brennan Poole.
The win came in Bowman’s 134th Cup Series appearance dating back to 2014. He has driven for Tommy Baldwin Racing and BK Racing, but found himself without a ride after 2015. When Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s 2016 season was cut short due to a concussion, Bowman was called in to substitute and when Earnhardt announced his retirement after the 2017 season Bowman was again given the call to fill the seat of the No. 88 car.
After 17 races in 2019, he sits tenth in the series standings with four top-five and six top-ten finishes, but he is locked into the NASCAR playoffs with the Chicagoland victory.
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