The 2020 season marks the third time that Alex Bowman has made an appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. The No. 88 team clinched a spot this year following its March win at Auto Club Speedway. After last weekend’s event in Darlington, Bowman currently is in fifth in the playoff standings, just 54 markers from the leader. The 27-year-old driver raced his way into the Round of 12 the last two years, and this is the second season where he clinched a spot based on a victory.
RACING AT RICHMOND: Bowman, a Tucson, Arizona, native, has eight previous Cup starts at Richmond Raceway and will be making his 100th consecutive series start on Saturday night. His best Richmond finish came in the fall 2018 race when the team finished 12th after 400 laps. He also has three starts at the Virginia track in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he qualified a career-best second and finished ninth in 2016 for JR Motorsports. In 2011, Bowman made one start at the track in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, qualifying fourth and finishing fifth after 100 laps.
TOP-10 STREAK: Bowman, driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet, has three top-10 finishes in the last three events from Dover, Daytona and Darlington. These results are the tied for the longest active top-10 streak in the series with Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.
UNDER THE LIGHTS: Bowman has finished inside the top 10 in four of the last five night races this season. He finished sixth at Martinsville Speedway on June 10, eighth at Kansas Speedway on July 23, seventh at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 29 and sixth last weekend at Darlington Raceway.
ALL IN THE NUMBERS: The No. 88 team has four stage wins this season, which is tied for third overall in the NASCAR Cup Series. Bowman has captured 179 stage points in 2020, which includes 12 stage points in Sunday’s event at Darlington. He is also running much better than his finishing positions show with an average of 12.58 and an average finish of 16.60 – a difference of 4.02. The 27-year-old driver has finished in the top 10 in four of the last five night races, including the last three.
IVES IN VIRGINIA: Crew chief Greg Ives is set to call his 10th race at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday evening. The Bark River, Michigan, native’s best finish at the track came back in 2015 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought home a fifth-place finish after 400 laps. Ives’ drivers have completed 99.8% of the total laps at the Virginia-based venue. The fifth-year Cup Series crew chief has four starts in the Xfinity Series as well at Richmond and his drivers finished inside the top five all four times. Chase Elliott finished second in both events in 2014 and Regan Smith finished fifth and third in 2013. Ives was a race engineer for the No. 48 team at Hendrick Motorsports from 2006 until 2012. During that time, he was a part of three wins, one pole award and seven top-10 finishes at Richmond.
WELCOME, TRUCK HERO: Saturday night’s event at Richmond Raceway will mark the second race of the 2020 season with Truck Hero featured on the No. 88 ChevyGoods.com machine. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Truck Hero offers customers a full range of branded automotive accessories for vehicles with market-leading functionality, engineering, quality and design. Hendrick Motorsports announced its partnership with ChevyGoods.com earlier this season, which includes branding on Bowman’s Camaro for 26 events. Associate brands featured are Adam’s Polishes, NOCO and Truck Hero.
NEW MONTH, NEW DEALS: During the month of September, No. 88 team sponsor ChevyGoods.com is providing discounts on various accessories on its website. Customers can receive 10% below MSRP on all Adam’s Polishes, NOCO and Truck Hero accessories purchased online. Use code CHEVYGOODS to receive the discount at ChevyGoods.com.
SPEEDY ON PIT ROAD: The No. 88 pit crew ranks seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series with an average four-tire stop time of 14.12 seconds after 27 events this season. The team includes fueler Jacob Conley, tire carrier Rowdy Harrell, jackman Dustin Lineback and tire changers Scott Brzozowski and Devin DelRicco.
Driver Alex Bowman on keeping the No. 88 team’s momentum going at Richmond:
“We have struggled at Richmond in the past. The last three weeks have been pretty good to us and we have some momentum going into this weekend’s race. We had as strong run in Darlington last weekend and are sitting in a good spot in the playoff standings. As a team, we have to go into Richmond and capitalize on stage points and keeping the car clean. This ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero team have been working hard on our short-track program and I know that we are capable of having a strong race on Saturday night.”
HMS PR
