LONG POND, Pa. – Momentum is a beautiful thing, and Alex Bowman is riding high on it after consecutive weeks where he’s been in the mix to score victories.
Bowman stunned the NASCAR world last weekend, when he snapped an 80-race winless streak at the Chicago Street Course. The No. 48 team unloaded another hot rod on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, as he was one of two drivers in the opening round of qualifying to crack the 52-second barrier. Ultimately, he qualified sixth.
During the opening stage, Bowman was a frontrunner, placing sixth. He picked up a seventh-place finish during a strategy-filled second stage, setting him up for the final stage. In a chaotic final stage, the No. 48 car used restarts to its advantage and soared to the second position. On what turned out to be the final restart with 23 laps remaining, he pressured Ryan Blaney for the race lead.
“I felt really good for about two laps firing off with Ryan and then I got a little bit too tight, kind of normal dirty air let him get away,” Bowman said. “As soon as there was a little bit of distance between him and I, I started sliding the right rear through Turn 3 and got the right rear super hot.”
Bowman held on to second, but he faded into the clutches of Denny Hamlin. The No. 11 car passed the No. 48 Chevrolet for the runner-up position with less than 10 laps remaining and Bowman held on to third at the checkered flag.
The third-place finish marks the second time this season that Bowman has consecutive top-five efforts (Bristol and COTA). Through 21 races, he has six top-five finishes, just two shy of his career-high (eight in 2021). Pocono also marks his 12th top-10 finish of 2024, tied with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the second most top 10s in the Cup Series.
“It’s definitely important,” Bowman said of putting together consistent finishes. “We had some good runs strung together earlier in the year as well. It’s good to do it after a win, especially after a different win with a lot of strategy, rain and all kinds of different things going on last week. To come to a normal race and come away with a top five is great. Just need to keep chipping away at it.”
Bowman knows the No. 48 team is reeling. The series returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval next weekend for the first time since 2020. In five Brickyard 400 starts, he has a pair of DNFs and a best finish of 21st.
But with a boost in performance this season, it shouldn’t shock anybody if the No. 48 team puts together another convincing race next weekend.
“I think it’s certainly good for the team,” Bowman said of the No. 48 car’s recent finishes. “From my side of things, as I’ve grown up, I’ve tried really hard to be able to reset after rough weeks. It does make your week a little easier, so the momentum has been real.”