FONTANA, Calif. – The speed Alex Bowman had at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has him feeling confident and comfortable heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
At Las Vegas, Bowman was catching then-race leader Ryan Blaney in the closing laps before an untimely caution flag came out and the ensuing pit strategies left him with a 13th-place finish.
“Nobody knows what everybody has until you get to that first downforce track,” Bowman told NASCAR.com on Friday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway. “We started the last few years pretty poorly so to start one off on a good note was good. Obviously, bummed we didn’t get a win but at the same time it was nice to have a lot of speed and at least have a shot at it.”
PHOTOS: Career highlights for Alex Bowman
Crew chief Greg Ives made the call for Bowman to follow Blaney down pit road on Lap 263. Eventual race winner Joey Logano stayed out along with Matt DiBenedetto and Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron. Monday-morning quarterbacking the finish may not bring solace, but Bowman views it as a learning opportunity.
“We’ve talked about it quite a bit,” Bowman said. “Obviously, it didn’t end up working out for us, but if the whole field pits behind us and we stay out, you’re screwed at that point. It could have gone either way. Looking back, we definitely should have stayed out, but it is what it is. You can’t go back and change it. You can just learn from it moving forward.”
The 26-year-old’s success at 1.5-mile tracks in the last year-plus has led the No. 88 team to identify and dissect that approach and attempt to bring it to other tracks. That plan appeared to pay dividends Friday as Bowman led both 50-minute practice sessions. The California track hasn’t been too kind to him, with a best finish in four starts of 13th in 2018.
RELATED: Bowman tops practices at Fontana
“Fontana is a place that we’ve really struggled at in the past,” Bowman said. “It’s such a fun race track. I really enjoy coming here. We’ve just been really bad the last two years here. Hopefully starting the year a little stronger this year, the new race car, will help us out.”
While there have been no points-paying race wins for the Hendrick camp to open the year, there have been plenty of positives with a new-look Chevrolet Camaro to boot. Chase Elliott has three stage wins, while Byron won one of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races and was in the top four for the last restart at Las Vegas. Jimmie Johnson finished in the top five at Las Vegas and seems to have an extra edge as he embarks on his final full-time season.
Those good vibes extend to Bowman in his third full season with Hendrick and his pairing with Ives. The driver of the No. 88 is focused on not only maintaining his intermediate strength but making improvements on tracks that have been a bugaboo for him and the team.
“Anywhere we go, I feel like we have a shot,” Bowman said. “We have the places that we struggled at – Phoenix (Raceway) being one of them – that we really need to improve on. Last year (at Phoenix) was embarrassing quite honestly. Those places bring a little bit more stress just trying to improve on some pretty poor runs. At the same time, I feel like every week we go anywhere with Hendrick Motorsports, we have the resources and tools we need to run well. We just have to do our job.”