Can the Hendrick Racer Overcome Another Playoff Exit?
Round One is complete, and four drivers were eliminated in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after Christopher Bell stole a wild Bristol Night race. Tire wear was the name of the game, and while many drivers had a shot to win, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota prevailed in the end. The race marked the end of the Round of 16, and of the four drivers who were eliminated, one of those was the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman. It wasn’t a glamorous season for Bowman by any means. He was one of two playoff drivers not to grab a win in the regular season and squeaked into the playoffs on points. He found himself with a good car and a chance to win his way through to the Round of 12 at Bristol, but was just a few spots short.
Bowman, who finished ninth in the regular season point standings, entered the playoffs with the biggest deficit, as he was the No. 16 seed and sat five points below the cutline. A 31st-place finish at Darlington to begin the round didn’t do him any favors, and his 26th-place finish at Gateway had him in a deep hole. The only chance Bowman had to make it past the Round of 16 was to win at Bristol. Throughout the night, Bowman was steady, hanging around the top 10. A spin midway through hurt him, but he recovered and made it up near the front as the race continued.
A glimmer of hope presented itself after Bowman’s teammate, Chase Elliott, wrecked, and Austin Cindric’s car caught fire, but the number two Penske Ford continued on. Cindric was multiple laps down, but when he returned to the track, Bowman still didn’t have enough cars in front of him to pass in order to point his way through. He needed to win the race. With 29 laps to go, Bowman’s car started to fall off, and he pitted for tires. Laps later, as pit stops continued, a caution came out. All but three cars pitted, one of those being Bowman, to have fresh tires for the final four-lap restart. Bowman restarted in the top lane, and as Zane Smith slid up the track as a result of old tires, it trapped Bowman behind and let Bell slip by to capture the flag. With an eighth-place finish, Bowman ended the round 10 points below the cutline, ending his playoff run.
Currently in his eighth season with Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman has made the playoffs seven times and has five seasons with a win. All eight of his career wins have come with Hendrick Motorsports, with four of those coming in the 2021 season, when he made the Round of Eight for the second straight season. In 2022, the first year of the Next Gen car, Bowman was sidelined with a concussion for five races. That year, he was out in the Round of 12. In 2023, Bowman missed the playoffs entirely after he suffered a broken back that caused him to miss four races, and in 2024, he made the playoffs after his most recent win at the Chicago Street Course, but was again a Round of 12 exit.
The 2025 season marked the worst playoff run of Bowman’s career, as it was the first time he had been eliminated in Round One. Bowman’s performance has been questionable as of late, and the many injuries may have played a role in his not getting back to his 2020 and 2021 prime. In February 2023, Bowman signed a three-year deal to remain at Hendrick through 2026, and at the same time, his sponsor Ally signed a five-year extension to remain with Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 48 team through 2028. While Ally is going to stick around, Bowman may not, unless he can prove his worth on the track.
Days before the Bristol race, it was announced that Hendrick Motorsports and Spire Motorsports would swap the pit crews of Bowman’s No. 48 and Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 teams. Though the two aren’t on the same team, Hendrick and Spire are affiliated through a Chevrolet technical alliance. Talk has grown about the future of Bowman at Hendrick, and Hocevar, though controversial at times, has been a driver that many have brought up as a potential replacement. Hocevar, like Bowman, had a shot to win at Bristol and restarted second on the final restart after a strong night. Hocevar is in his second full-time Cup Series season and has 14 career top-fives and 32 top-10s. In the Craftsman Truck Series, where he competed before the Cup Series, he ran three full-time seasons and some one-off races in 2019, 2024, and 2025, and has five career wins in the series.
Bowman has shown he can be a competitive driver and a winner, but the past few seasons have been full of pain and misfortune. Injuries, penalties, and poor performances have either knocked him out of the playoffs early or caused him to miss it entirely. With six races to go in 2025, Bowman will use them all as a chance to head back to victory lane before his sights are set on 2026. The 2026 season will be make-or-break for Bowman, where a win may be all the difference in where he races in 2027 and beyond.
