NASCAR: Alex Bowman back at Hendrick Motorsports in 2022?

Alex Bowman is still technically a pending free agent for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, as his Hendrick Motorsports contract expires at the end of this year.

Just before NASCAR returned to action last May amid the unexpected 10-week hiatus caused by coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions, Hendrick Motorsports signed Alex Bowman to a one-year extension.

Bowman, in his third season with the team at the time, had just won at Auto Club Speedway in dominant fashion two races prior.

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There was speculation at the time that the sponsorship situation at the #88 team could shift Bowman to Jimmie Johnson’s #48 Ally Financial-sponsored Chevrolet, and that move was confirmed a few months later. Johnson had already announced in November 2019 that the 2020 season would be his last.

Interestingly, Bowman did not receive another extension at that time.

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Ally Financial signed a multi-year extension back in October 2019 to continue serving as the full-time primary sponsor of the #48 Chevrolet through 2023, effectively allowing Rick Hendrick to put whoever he wants to put behind the wheel.

Yet Bowman remained under contract only through 2021, even with teammates William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson all secured by the team through at least 2022.

To this day, Bowman is still only under contract through the remainder of the 2021 season. However, take that with a grain of salt.

He secured his third career victory at Richmond Raceway last month, and on Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway, he led just the fourth 1-2-3-4 team finish in Cup Series history — and first in Hendrick Motorsports history — to become just the second driver to win multiple races through 13 events this year.

After the victory, which saw the 28-year-old Tucson, Arizona native lead 98 of the 400 laps around the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) high-banked “Monster Mile” oval in Dover, Delaware, including the final 97, Hendrick commented on his future with the team.

He said that negotiations are already underway and called the situation “a formality”, which we kind of all expected at this point.

"“We’ve already started. It should be done any time. We want Alex there. He wants to be there. It’s kind of at this point just a formality.”"

Here is what Bowman had to add.

"“Just being at Hendrick Motorsports is obviously where I want to be. I want to continue to work with Ally and drive the 48 car. Like he said, we’ve been working on it. I think I want to be there; they want me to drive their race car. It’s cool to have a guy like Rick Hendrick say he wants you to continue driving his race car. It means a lot to me. Just a really special place to be. Appreciative for the opportunity.”"

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Anything less than a multi-year extension through 2023 would be considered a major surprise.

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