“I don't think we're in a awesome spot”: Alex Bowman opens up on playoff scare as pressure mounts ahead of Chicago race

Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman recently admitted the pressure to make it into the playoffs as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Chicago for the 19th race of the season this Sunday.

Bowman is currently 39 points above the playoff elimination line, just two spots ahead of the cutoff and one position above Bubba Wallace. Entering Chicago, he occupies 15th on the playoff grid with 444 points and is still searching for his first win of the 2025 season.

Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass shared the defending Chicago race‑winner’s strategy about whether to prioritize points or go for the win at this year’s event.

"I don't think we're in a awesome spot and points obviously. A lot of opportunities for winners below the cut line coming up. So, certainly, you know that pressure is there but we've kind of done it to ourselves in a sense. We have that two-month stretch that we really struggled and I just shouldn't even really say that we really struggled like we just didn't finish any races. We finished last a lot. So, last couple weeks have been pretty good for us," Alex Bowman said (01:30 onwards).

"So we just need to keep running how we should and the rest will take care of itself," he added.

Bowman has finished outside the top 25 eight times this year, including back‑to‑back 36th at Nashville and Michigan with engine failure in Bristol and a crash in Texas.

The Grant Park 165 green flag is expected to drop at 2:25 pm ET on Sunday (July 6). Qualifying for the race will start on Saturday (July 5) at 1 pm ET.

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"It's just kind of hit miss" - Alex Bowman about racing on road courses

Alex Bowman has posted six top-10s in the last ten road-course races and finished fourth during the Cup Series' first international points race in Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Bowman won the Chicago Street race on the 2.2‑mile course and broke his 80-race winless streak last season. The 12‑turn street course through Grant Park downtown gave the No. 48 Chevy driver the eighth career NASCAR Cup win.

"I feel like I've struggled at Watkins Glen for a long time, but been pretty successful at the rest of the road courses. So yeah, it's just kind of hit miss," Alex Bowman told Bob Pockrass (00:08 onwards).

Bowman recovered from his disappointing results and finished in the top-5 twice in the last three races.

The 32-year-old nailed a third-place run at EchoPark Speedway last weekend and moved to the second round of the In-Season Challenge. Bowman has secured nine top-10s, including four top-5s and two pole positions in the first 18 races of the 2025 season.