Recently my colleague at WTBQ Radio, Taylor Sterling and I had a chance to sit down with Alex Bowman who drives the #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
An Interview with NASCAR’s Alex Bowman
What’s it like to drive Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s old ride?
It’s a dream come true just to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. It’s really cool.
What gave you the desire to be a racecar driver?
My Dad was a big racing fan. I got lucky to find someone crazy enough to let me race their car. I started racing Quarter Midgets to USAC Midgets and then went to stock car racing in 2011 and I haven’t looked back.
How old were you when you stepped into a Quarter Midget?
I was seven years old. I fell in love with it pretty easily.
Two seasons ago you subbed for Dale Jr. as he healed from concussion issues. Last season you had to sit out the entire season. How frustrating was that for you?
It was different for sure. I had some time for myself which was a little bit nice. It was nerve-racking not knowing what was going on or what was gonna happen. I’m just really glad it worked out the way it did. I definitely had to be patient and I’m pretty impatient so that was tough.
The Chevrolet’s have struggled to match the performances of the Fords and Toyota’s this year with its new Camaro. Do you sense that the Hendrick organization has a good grasp of what’s wrong or are you still struggling to find the answer?
I think we’re a little off with more than just the Camaro body. Chip Ganassi Racing has been doing a better job than us. They’ve been kind of kicking our (Hendrick) butts. We know we have a lot of work to do. Hendrick has a lot of really smart people working to make our race cars better. Nobody has given up. Everybody’s working hard.
We just heard from Bubba Wallace who also drives a Chevrolet. He indicated that his team really didn’t know what was going on with their car. Your thoughts?
I think we thought it was all aero at the beginning. I think we’re lacking a little bit in a lot of areas which adds up to missing by a lot.
I think if we all just buckle down, me do a better job driving the race car, the chassis shop do a little better, body shop gets better, the engine shop gets better, that will all turn out to produce a better product at the race track.
If you weren’t behind the wheel of the #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, what would you be doing?
My Dad owns a small paint shop in Arizona. I’d probably be working there or doing something automotive as I’m mechanically inclined.
I guess as a race car driver you’d have to be mechanically inclined.
You’d be surprised by some of the guys out there but yeah I grew up having to work on my own stuff. If I didn’t it wasn’t going to the race track.
Thanks for reading. Listen to WTBQ Radio on Monday and Friday mornings at 8:45 as I join the gang on The Frank Truatt Morning Show discussing the world of NASCAR. Tune in to 1110AM, 93.5FM or streamed worldwide at wtbq.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Jimlaplante.
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