Alex Bowman isn’t done driving just yet, but he’ll be calling it quits on his NASCAR career soon.
Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday, July 23, that Bowman has signed a one-year extension to continue driving the No. 48 Chevrolet but will retire from full-time racing after the 2027 season.
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The 33-year-old Bowman has been a full-time driver in the top-level Cup Series since 2014, but has just one victory in the last four seasons and missed four races earlier this year because of vertigo. He also missed three races in 2023 because of a fractured vertebra and five races in 2022 after suffering a concussion.
“Alex has meant so much to our organization for a long time,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “He’s overcome adversity, won big races and represented our team and partners with professionalism, personality and class. Alex is a tremendous talent in the race car and an even better person outside of it. We’re proud he’ll have the opportunity to finish his full-time career with us on his terms. He’s family.”
A native of Tucson, Arizona, Bowman has eight victories across 371 Cup Series races and holds the record for most consecutive starts on the front row of the Daytona 500 with six. He won the pole at the Super Bowl of stockcar racing three times in his career.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what’s next, and this feels like the right decision at the right time,” Bowman said. “The sport asks a lot of you, and I’ve learned it’s important to listen to your body and make the right choices for yourself. To say I’m incredibly grateful to Mr. Hendrick, our partners at Ally and Chevrolet, and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports would be an understatement. They believed in me and gave me the biggest opportunity of my life.
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After winning six races across two seasons in the lower level ARCA Menards Series, Bowman spent one full-time season in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series before jumping up to a Cup Series ride in 2014 with BK Racing. The next year, Bowman drove for Tommy Baldwin Racing.
Both of those first two seasons were a struggle for Bowman as he only finished inside the top 20 four times out of 72 races. Entering 2016, he was without a full-time Cup Series ride, but wound up running 10 races for Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 88 Chevrolet as a substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he battled concussion issues. In that 10-race span, Bowman won his first pole at Phoenix and notched three top-10 finishes.
Following Earnhardt’s retirement, Bowman joined Hendrick Motorsports full-time in 2018, finishing 16th in the point standings. The next season he notched his first win at Chicagoland. Bowman went on to take checkered flags in the Cup Series at Fontana, Richmond, Dover, Pocono, Martinsville, Las Vegas and the Chicago Street Course. Bowman finished a career-best sixth in points in 2020 and had a four-win season in 2021 — the year he moved over to the No. 48 after the retirement of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Bowman also notched one win in the O’Reilly Series, winning at Charlotte in 2017.
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Next season, Bowman will eclipse 400 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, with more than 300 of those coming in Hendrick cars.
Bowman’s retirement means that there will be an open seat on one of the premier teams in the Cup Series and the top team for manufacturer Chevrolet. Hendrick is NASCAR’s all-time winningest organization and has had the same four-driver lineup for the past six years, with Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron filling out the roster next to Bowman. Since 2016, Hendrick has captured four Cup Series championships, with Larson winning two of them. Only Penske — Ford’s top team — has as many titles in that stretch.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASCAR driver Alex Bowman to retire after 2027 season
