Alex Bowman helped out at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday to pull the wraps off the retro-look No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet he'll drive at Darlington Raceway next month. The car pays tribute to one of the Hall of Fame's own -- Class of 2017 inductee Mark Martin.
The No. 48 Ally Chevrolet will shift from its traditional purple hues to a red, white and blue look for the Goodyear 400 on May 8 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM), the main event for the annual NASCAR Throwback Weekend tripleheader. The design takes its inspiration from Martin's 1993 victory in the Southern 500, the track's long-running Labor Day classic.
Bowman recalled first meeting Martin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2013, Martin's last season in the NASCAR Cup Series. In the years since, he's become better acquainted with Martin's place in the sport's history, telling his story through his interviews and podcast appearances. He also said Martin has kept in touch with him during his more recent visits to the track, always taking time to say hello – "which blows my mind," Bowman says.
RELATED: See more of Bowman's scheme | Cup Series standings | Buy Darlington tickets"To me, it's just really cool to be able to throw back to a guy like that," Bowman said. "There aren't many racers left. And it's cool to be able to throw back to an era where he was so on the mechanical side of things just like he was on the driver's side of things."
[caption id="attachment_348694" align="alignleft" width="300"]Bowman said he first mentioned the No. 48 tribute to Martin during the race weekend at the Circuit of The Americas last month. Martin was on hand for Tuesday's unveiling, albeit virtually – piped in through a video teleconference from Montana – and said he was flattered by the gesture.
"I was really caught off guard. And it's a really cool thing," said Martin, who drove for Hendrick Motorsports from 2009-2011. "I don't know if you guys can really realize what it means to us old-timers to just be remembered. It's such an incredible honor, and Darlington is such a historic race track. You know, this is just perfect. I was really surprised that Alex chose my car. Really happy that Ally allowed him to do it, and they collaborated on this project. It's just a true honor to me. And Alex is on, he's on a roll right now. So this thing could roll right up into Victory Lane, just like it did in 1993."
That long-ago Darlington win marked the 11th of Martin's 40 Cup Series victories, but it also capped one of the most prolific stretches of his career – a four-race win streak during the height of his heyday with team owner Jack Roush.
Bowman's recent run of success that Martin alluded to might be more modest, but he's caught stride with five of his seven Cup Series victories arriving in the last 12 months. That stretch includes a triumph earlier this season at Las Vegas that virtually sealed a berth in the Cup Series Playoffs. He's finished among the top 15 in each of the five races that have been held since.
"You know, we've had speed everywhere," said Bowman, who is tied for sixth place in the Cup Series standings with Martin Truex Jr. "Martinsville and Phoenix have really been our two worst races of the year, and I would say we finished 14th and 12th. So we've been pretty good each and every week. Need to execute a little better, but I think things are going really well."