Alex Bowman: Hendrick Departure Rumors Have "Certainly Been Annoying"
When tackling the NASCAR Playoffs, the last thing that any driver wants is a distraction. Unfortunately for Alex Bowman, there's a pretty massive one staring him in the face, at the moment.
The majority of questions for Bowman during Wednesday's Playoff Media Day weren't actually about the post-season, but more about a series of rumors circulating on social media, which implied that he would not return to the No. 48 in 2025.
Bowman says those rumors are "annoying" and unequivocally false.
"My contract is through the end of 2026 and all I can tell you is what my bosses have told me," Bowman said Wednesday. "And that's that there are no plans to change anything. Rumors are just rumors."
The Tucson, Arizona-native has been with Hendrick Motorsports full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2018, when he was handpicked to replace the retiring Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
In his six-season tenure with the organization, Bowman has scored eight NASCAR Cup Series wins and qualified for the Playoffs in every season except for 2023, when he sustained a back injury in a sprint car accident, forcing him to sit out for three races.
"Every conversation I've had with my bosses is it's unfortunate and it's rumors that we're not even really a part of, which makes it difficult. Like, I don't think there are any plans or anything on the HMS side, and I think the rumors have started on the other side of things, so hopefully when they get their announcement on what the other side [of that rumor] is doing, then that will kind of go away for me."
This recent blast of the rumor on social media isn't the first time that Bowman has heard it though, as the 31-year-old describes a point where he decided to pick up the phone and make sure that things weren't unraveling before his eyes.
"That's a rumor I've heard for like a month, and it got to the point where I picked up the phone and called everybody, and everybody said absolutely not. That's really all I have to go on, and I don't have any reason to believe anything other than that."
Now, for Bowman, who finished 13th in regular-season point standings and made the NASCAR Playoffs based on his victory at the Chicago Street Course, the No. 48 team has to just go and perform.
“We need to go run better, it’s been a miserable month and we haven’t executed on a high level at all, so we need to go run better the next 10 weeks, but we need to do that for us, and our playoff run and Ally and the No. 48 car, there’s no like ‘You need to do this to keep your job’, and as far as I know, I’m not worried about that at all.”
Bowman will join Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and William Byron as the four drivers fighting for a NASCAR Cup Series championship with Hendrick Motorsports in its 40th Anniversary season.
JOSEPH SRIGLEY