Hot stretch brings Bowman tantalizingly close to Victory Lane

LONG POND, Pa. – With three runner-up finishes and a seventh-place finish in last weekend's Coca-Cola 600, Alex Bowman is one of the hottest drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as the circuit heads to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s Pocono 400. (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Bowman has jumped 11 spots in the standings over the past four races and has earned the second-most points over that stretch – there's that runner-up spot again – to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. For the 26-year-old, the uptick in results wasn't from the flip of a proverbial switch. "I wish we could really pinpoint what the biggest difference has been," Bowman told NASCAR.com at Pocono. "We've been unloading with fast race cars and just being better throughout the whole course of the weekend. Our cars have been really good." RELATED: Full schedule for Pocono | Bowman calls out Logano The numbers back that up for not just Bowman, but Hendrick Motorsports as a whole. In the past four races, the Hendrick quartet of Elliott, Bowman, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson have a win, seven top fives and 12 top 10s as well as two of the last three Busch Pole Awards. In the season's first nine races, the foursome combined for two top fives and seven top 10s. "I think we've all been running better as a whole," Elliott told media at Pocono. "All of us ran in the top 10 last weekend (at Charlotte). The results are what they are … and they've been better lately." Bowman notched three straight runner-up finishes at Talladega, Dover and Kansas. Being that close to Victory Lane might lead one to Monday Morning Quarterback every aspect of those races but he indicated there was only one he really poured over. "I ran back through what I could have done better to try to hold Brad (Keselowski) off (at Kansas)," Bowman said. "Trying to hold someone that is on 30-lap fresher tires is tough. So it was obviously a bunch of good runs for us and we continue to improve. I think each and every week we have a shot to win." [ndmsvideo vid="6035592536001" iframe="true" play="false"] Prior to his consecutive trio of seconds, Bowman's best Cup finish came at Pocono last summer. He finished third at the 'Tricky Triangle' in July of 2018. And while the rules package for this weekend is different from what he fared well with here last year, Bowman indicated his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was not driving much different after the initial practice. "The package is really different but the cars really aren't driving that much different," Bowman said of driving at Pocono. "There's still a ton of off-throttle time. We unloaded with something that we thought was going to be more like the last couple weeks and we quickly realized that we need a lot more downforce in the car and a lot more grip. We're working on going back that way and we can look at our last year's notes and go from there." One place Bowman has won is at the polls, taking the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race Fan Vote to earn the last spot in the field of the exhibition race. The fans have taken notice of the results. The hunger to reach Victory Lane for a celebration like no other is something that burns stronger with as tantalizingly close as it's gotten in recent weeks. "That's something you always think about is what that first Cup win will be like," Bowman said. "I've been thinking about that for a long time and definitely not going to stop thinking about that until it happens."