Alex Bowman won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway, but he is still without a contract to compete in 2022.
Alex Bowman entered the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season as arguably the top pending free agent on the market for the 2022 season after signing only a one-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports last season.
Bowman signed his one-year extension in mid-May during the 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic after his dominant victory at Auto Club Speedway two races prior.
It was speculated at the time that he could move from the #88 Chevrolet to the #48 Chevrolet for sponsorship reasons, and that move was later confirmed. Jimmie Johnson retired after the 2020 season, but in October 2019, Ally Financial had signed a massive multi-year extension to continue serving as the primary sponsor of the #48 Chevrolet on a full-time basis through 2023.
Yet even after Bowman’s move to the #48 team was confirmed, he remained under contract through only 2021. That is still the case to this day, even though all three of his teammates are under contract through at least 2022.
So who are three candidates to drive the #48 Chevrolet in 2022? Let’s take a look.
Candidates to drive the #48 Chevrolet: No. 1 – Alex Bowman
After Bowman’s win in Sunday’s race, Rick Hendrick said that having him back behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet next year was simply a “formality” at this point and that negotiations have already begun.
Given the fact that Ally Financial already have a deal that runs through the 2023 season, anything less than a two-year extension for the 28-year-old Tuscon, Arizona native would be a surprise.
Candidates to drive the #48 Chevrolet: No. 2 – Alex Bowman
If you watched Sunday’s race, you know exactly where I’m going with this.
So much for that CreditOne Ones To Watch prediction, right? Where ever single member of the Fox Sports team — Jeff Gordon, Larry McReynolds, Clint Bowyer, Regan Smith and Mike Joy — picked Kyle Larson to win and said there was no way that anybody could think differently?
In every race, as the laps wind down, they all pick different drivers they feel have a shot to win; they aren’t allowed to select repeats, and there are usually a few jokes about who gets to pick first, who stole who’s pick, who passed up the easy option, who took the easy way out, etc.
But as this week’s joke, when the outcome seemingly looked clear, they played off of the idea that Larson had it in the bag, and given how he was dominating the race, they all picked him and “explained” why he was their choice.
The joke ended up being on them for putting all of their eggs in one basket.
The race just had that Larson runner-up vibe to it, given how he has historically struggled to close the door after dominating races. Sure enough, he ended up finishing in second place behind Alex Bowman, though it was a faster pit stop that did the trick for the driver of the #48 Chevrolet, not an on-track pass.
Larson led 263 of the 400-lap race’s first 303 laps around the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) high-banked “Monster Mile” oval in Dover, Delaware. Bowman led one of those 303 laps plus the final 97 after his amazing lap 304 pit stop.
Larson hung on to second place behind Bowman and still played a part in the Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3-4 sweep ahead of Chase Elliott and William Byron in third and fourth, respectively.
So as for the second possible candidate to drive the #48 car next year, I’m going with Alex Bowman. But aside from Alex Bowman and Alex Bowman, who might end up here in 2022?
Candidates to drive the #48 Chevrolet: No. 3 – Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman, Alex Bowman, and finally, we have Alex Bowman. Now, let’s actually talk about him.
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Bowman entered the 2021 season coming off a career season in which he finished in sixth place in the championship standings after advancing to the round of 8 for the first time in three years at Hendrick Motorsports.
He dominated the March race at Auto Club Speedway but unfortunately wasn’t able to win again throughout the remainder of the season. Despite a strong run in the round of 8, he did not advance to the Championship 4, and that failure to advance can be pinned on a lack of wins and playoff points throughout the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.
But this season, Bowman has picked up where he left off performance-wise, and he is actually converting that speed into victories, having already doubled his career win total for the second consecutive year.
A late pass for the lead on Denny Hamlin netted him the win at Richmond Raceway last month, and a dominant Hendrick Motorsports effort plus fast pit stops and a dominant showing in clean air netted him the win at Dover International Speedway, where he had previously finished in both second and third place.
There is no reason to believe that he won’t be back behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet next year. All of our eggs may be in one basket here, but we’re pretty sure that this will play out better than Sunday’s CreditOne Ones To Watch.