By David Morgan, Associate Editor
Alex Bowman did this one for Finn.
On a weekend full of grief in the midst of losing his dog Finn, who had been battling cancer through the summer, Bowman turned in his best finish of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, delivering a runner-up finish for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Fighting back tears after climbing from his car on pit road after the race, Bowman explained how tough it was to even come to Gateway this weekend and get behind the wheel.
“This is a really hard weekend just to get on the plane and be here. I had a little extra help today, but yeah, ready to go home,” said Bowman. “Proud of everyone on this Ally 48 team for helping me through the weekend. Yeah, life is hard sometimes. I lost my best friend, so just ready to go home.”
Bowman, who had not finished better than 13th in his four previous Gateway starts and had not finished higher than 26th in his last three starts at the 1.250-mile oval, started Sunday’s race just outside the top 10 in 11th and quickly worked his way into the top-10, finishing the first stage in eighth place.
He would fade to 18th by the end of Stage 2 as he battled handling issues, but as the final stage played out, his team was able to get him dialed in to start working his way forward again.
Bowman found himself in seventh place with 19 laps to go, placing him firmly in the fight for the lead as the race wound down.
Through the myriad of cautions through the end of regulation, Bowman climbed up to third by the time the race went into overtime, lining up behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the first overtime restart.
Bowman played the dutiful wingman on both the first overtime restart and the final restart of regulation, giving Larson the shove he needed both times to jump out into the lead.
When the caution flag flew for the final time in the first overtime period, Bowman had advanced into second place behind Larson, so he would line up alongside his teammate for the final restart of the day with a shot at scoring his first win since Chicago in June 2024.
However, Larson would get the ultimate jump on the final restart to secure the lead as Bowman and Joey Logano battled it out for second-place. Bowman took over sole possession of second at the white flag and held onto it for the duration of the final lap to help cap off a solid day for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I suck here, so clearly, I had some help,” Bowman added with a quick laugh, trying to add a bit of levity to the moment. “But yeah, you just never want to see your best friend suffer and unfortunately the end was pretty bad. That was really difficult.
“Man, I’m just proud of this Ally 48 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Really proud of Kyle for winning. I know it’s been a while for him. It’s great for this team and the Chase and everything. Yeah, it was a good day for us.”
In his post-win comments, Larson noted how important Bowman was to him being able to get back to Victory Lane for the first time in over a year, explaining that he couldn’t have done it without Bowman’s help.
“The key was having my teammate behind me, and Alex (Bowman) gave me a great push,” Larson said.
“He popped me right at the right time. I knew if I could just stay side-by-side with Joey, I would at least have a shot. But I was able to tag enough of a side draft on them to have the momentum and leverage into one, and off of two, and gain control, and I was hoping it would just stay green from there. I knew I had a tire advantage on him, but people kept breaking rotors and crashing, and so we had to go through it.
“But you know, without Alex, I would not be in Victory Lane right now, and so I want to dedicate this one to him, for sure.”
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