Bowman thriving under unwanted pressure

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Alex Bowman can get the job done. The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has proved this postseason he's able to do what he needs when he needs to in order to survive in the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs. Entering the elimination race the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course two weeks ago, Bowman was two points below the cutline. He powered through to a second-place finish and advanced by just five points. A week later, Bowman finished third at the Round of 12 opener at Dover International Speedway, actually giving himself 17-point a cushion in the standings. “I can’t sit here and say that I enjoy the high-pressure situations and that they make me feel good,” Bowman said Friday in between the Monster Energy Series’ practices at Talladega Superspeedway. “But, for some reason, I tend to thrive in those high-pressure situations. I just try to use it to my advantage as much as I can.” RELATED: Full 'Dega schedule | Practice results It has gotten Bowman this far: the second race of the Round of 12, better known as the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (Monday, 2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bowman currently sits slightly comfortable in seventh, two spots away from elimination. The cutoff race isn’t until next weekend at Kansas Speedway. The most Bowman wants to do now is survive Talladega. “I think the speedways are really the only places you can’t look at past finishes as an indicator of how you’re going to run going,” Bowman said. “I think some guys run really good at speedways and others seem to not. But running second here in the spring isn’t necessarily a guarantee we’re going to run well this time.” Which he did. It marked his best Talladega run in his career. First top-five performance there, too. That was the regular season. This is the postseason. RELATED: Bowman lends a helping hand in Kansas | Qualifying order  There have been four playoff races so far. Bowman has placed in the top five in two of them and top 10 in three of them. He was – in order – sixth at Last Vegas Motor Speedway, 23rd at Richmond Raceway, second at the Roval and then third at Dover. Quite a turnaround for someone whose best finish (prior to the playoffs) since his first career win at Chicagoland Speedway in June was 10th. “I think we belonged to be in this round and move on before that,” Bowman said. “But I think we’re definitely stating it and doing a really good job of showing that.” Bowman made the playoffs last season, before ultimately coming 16th in the final standings. It was his first full-time season with Hendrick Motorsports. He ended up making it to the Round of 12 before getting eliminated. The issue last year, though, was Bowman started the Round of 12 with a 28th-place finish at Dover. He was then 33rd at Talladega and ninth at Kansas. “We were kind of throwing Hail Marys from there,” Bowman said. “But this year, we have a legitimate shot.”