Alex Bowman Will Take Over for Dale Jr. in 2018: "I Just Want to Go Win"

Alex Bowman (left) will get his big break and succeed Dale Jr. (right)
as driver of the No. 88 Chevy in 2018 (Google Images)

Alex Bowman had made a career out of running sporadically in all three of NASCAR's top touring divisions, and when he did have a chance to run a full schedule of races it was for a team that could barely contend for a top-20 finish, let alone a win.

Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports came calling.

After being tabbed to run nine Xfinity Series races for JR Motorsports last year, Bowman was selected to fill in for Junior while he recovered from a concussion. He split his time in the No. 88 car with four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who was called out of retirement to pinch hit for his former teammate.

In eight starts in the No. 88 Chevy, Gordon tallied two top-ten finishes and led seven laps.

In ten starts in the No. 88 Chevy, Bowman tallied three top-tens, led 51 laps, won his first career Cup Series pole in the fall race at Phoenix, and had it not been for a late race spin in front of him, he came within laps of winning that very same race.

After a NASCAR career where not much has been set in stone, Bowman finally got a chance to live up to his nickname, "The Showman."

That's why when Dale Jr announced his retirement earlier this season, he pushed hard for Bowman to fill his seat. IT's also why many fans wanted to see the Tuscon, Arizona native finally get a break in a full-time, competitive ride.

Bowman has been working as the simulator and test driver for Hendrick Motorsports, turning down full-time opportunities lower tier rides because he wanted to stay at the front of the line if a ride at HMS became available.

Now his hard work, patience, and belief in himself have paid off in a big way, as he will be the driver who succeeds Dale Jr. in the No. 88 car next season.

"Ever since I was a kid, racing is all I've wanted to do," Bowman said in a press release. "I've had so many people believe in me along the way. My family has sacrificed a lot and always been behind me.

"I would never have this chance without the support of Dale and everyone involved with the No. 88 team. To be part of Hendrick Motorsports and for Mr. Hendrick to have this confidence in me, it's just amazing."

After seeing his performance last season, along with his commitment to his career, Earnhardt Jr. quickly became one of Bowman's biggest and most vocal supporters.

"I believe in his talent on the race track but his commitment off the race track to further his career, to me, over the last several years has been real impressive," the 14-time Most Popular Driver said of his successor.

"There are a lot of guys that have the talent and need that one critical break and if they still committed and keep pushing and are willing to make the sacrifices, eventually that opportunity will come along.

"Alex is the perfect example of that. He gets this opportunity because of his commitment to his own career and his gamble on himself that he made a long, long time ago."

Junior's HMS teammates also vouched for Bowman. Gordon believes that Bowman is "a great choice."

"I think he’s a great choice," Gordon said.

"He did such an amazing job behind the wheel. I know what that car was like. I drove it last year (for eight races). We started improving our performance when I was in the car, but then Alex went to Phoenix and sat on the pole and had an excellent chance at winning that race. He’s just a great driver, and I think it’s going to be fun to watch."

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson also backed Bowman.

"How he came in and stepped in seamlessly, he was really impressive for me," Johnson said.

"He handled the pressure. Won a pole. Was up there duking it out for some race wins. He had a heated moment or two with some of the veterans and wasn't rattled. He did an amazing job. We all watched him evolve. I think he would be a great fit for that car from a wide variety of angles."

Clearly, Bowman impressed the right people to have a trio of drivers with 11 championships and seven Daytona 500 wins between them standing in his corner.

Team owner Rick Hendrick also spoke highly of his new wheelman.

"Alex impressed the heck out of us last year with his talent, poise, and professionalism," Hendrick said. "He stepped up in a very demanding situation and showed that he can run with the best and compete for wins.

"His ability to stay focused through it all, and the way he's handled himself since then, has shown a lot of character. (Crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the team loved working with Alex, and that dynamic will get even better with more time together."

Following Kasey Kahne's win in the Brickyard 400, Hendrick told reporters that while he couldn't make any guarantees, he had Bowman in mind from the very beginning.

"Of course, I didn’t want to see Dale tell me that he was going to retire, but we had Alex in the back of our mind for whatever opportunity we had."

"It wasn’t much of a decision at all. Alex was the guy."

Rumors persisted for weeks that 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth would get the ride over Bowman because of some potential sponsor hangups with the relatively unproven driver. But in the end, Nationwide will continue as sponsor of the No. 88 for 21 races, while Axalta Coating Systems added two races to their deal and will back the car in 15 events in 2018.

"The No. 88 team is such a great group of people," Bowman said. "I know we can pick up where we left off last year, and I truly believe we can win races and contend for a championship.

"I'm excited to build on the relationship with Nationwide and all of our partners. It means the world that they have faith in me, and I'm thankful to have them on my side. Now I just want to go win."

JGR Sent a Bad Message with Furniture Row Racing Sanctions

Joe Gibbs Racing suspended two members of Martin Truex Jr's pit crew after
getting involved in an argument at Indy (Google Images) 

We've all seen the video from this past weekend's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway of Truex and Kyle Busch wrecking on a restart with 50 laps to go. Both driver's raced into turn one, Busch pinned Truex down, Truex wiggled and slid up into Busch and both drivers nailed the outside wall. Their days were over and, while both drivers were unhappy, they seemed to be able to move on after the fact.

However, Truex's tire changers and Busch's crew chief Adam Stevens got into a heated argument on pit road. Front-tire changer Chris Taylor and rear-changer Lee Cunningham were the two Truex crewmen involved in the shouting match.

One of the tire changers can be seen in this video clapping sarcastically as Stevens walks past their pit box. The No. 18 crew chief steps over and the two exchange words. The second Truex tire changer steps in and attempts to escort Stevens from their pit box, telling his "I don't care who you are! Get out of my box!" several times. No punches were thrown, no shoving was done, this was simply a case of a few passionate crewmen voicing their displeasure with each other over a racing incident. The No. 78 team has every right to not want a rival crew chief in their pit box

But while this should have been the end of this minor flare up, it wasn't. Both Cunningham and Taylor received three-week suspensions for their role in the argument. However, it NASCAR that handed down the sanctions this time. It also wasn't Furniture Row Racing. Both men were benched by Joe Gibbs Racing.

This news left a bad taste in the mouths of many NASCAR fans, and more still feel this is a very bad look for the sport as a whole. Apparently, the terms of the technical alliance between FRR and JGR also stipulate that JGR provides FRR with a pit crew. This means that even though they pit a car for another team, Truex Jr's pit crew consists of Joe Gibbs Racing personnel. This makes them JGR employees, which makes it Coach Gibbs' choice to reprimand them if need be. That's all fine and good.

But that doesn't mean it was needed in this instance. JGR officials should have simply "swallowed the whistle" on what should've been a non-issue.

Ever since entering their technical partnership prior to last year, Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing have been next to unstoppable. Truex won four times last year, while JGR's quartet of drivers won 12 races between them. That's almost half of the races run last season.

This year, however, Truex has already won three races, 14 stages, 29 playoff points, and is well on his way to the regular season points championship and the 15 playoff point bonus that comes with it. Hamlin's win at NHMS two weeks ago is JGR's lone win this season. They have been close many times with Busch, but they have not been able to get any of their other drivers in the win column.

Busch is riding a 365+ day winless streak and on the cusp of potentially missing the playoffs. Throw in the fact that Stevens was not penalized for his role in the argument, and many fans have perceived this to be a very politically-charged statement by JGR.

Furniture Row has outrun JGR all season long, which can't make the folks at JGR all that happy. So, as many fans said on social media yesterday, if you can't beat 'em, suspend 'em, right? It would appear that JGR is reminding FRR that they are nothing more than a satellite team of the JGR mothership and that JGR is the reason for all of their success. Not because of Martin Truex Jr's driving talent. Not because of Cole Pearn's race-winning calls. Not because of the boys and girls that work tirelessly at the FRR shop in Denver. It is only because of the parts and pieces supplied by Joe Gibbs Racing.

While it might not have been intended this way, this clearly looks like a power grab by JGR to reassert their dominance in the Toyota camp and slow down their stiffest competition. Especially since Stevens was not reprimanded.

JGR does some things differently than most teams and one of those things is treating their crew chiefs as executives in the organizational structure. If they are going to be treated as middle-management, are JGR's crew chiefs not expected to rise about petty squabbling? Rather than defend themselves and their team, were Taylor and Cunningham just supposed to say, 'Sorry Mr. Stevens, it won't happen again?' They might be JGR employees during the week, but on Sunday's they pit a car for a rival team. Come race day, they are competitors with the four JGR cars.

Many fans and media members also brought up the fact that Busch was not reprimanded by JGR officials this year at Las Vegas for walking halfway down pit road to punch Joey Logano after the race was over. Busch getting off scot-free for assaulting another driver while two crewmen get a three-week suspension for calmly escorting a crew chief from your pit box is a pretty glaring double-standard.

So where do we go from here?

Barney Visser, owner of Truex's No.78, issued the obligatory press release saying that they supported the actions taken by JGR. But it's hard to imagine this sitting too well with him and the folks at FRR.

Is Truex supposed to not race the JGR cars as hard as the 36 others on the track? If he winds up racing one of them for the championship, is he supposed to roll over when the race winds down?

Optics are everything, especially in NASCAR racing. Whether it was meant as a shot across the bow of Furniture Row Racing or not, that's what these suspensions appear to be. Technical alliances can clearly be difficult to understand, especially now that the line between teams is that much blurrier, but they have become a necessary part of the game for smaller teams to stay competitive.

It will be very interesting to see how this story plays itself out and if there will be any further repercussions from it.