PUSH TO THE PLAYOFFS: With just three races left in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Alex Bowman is currently ranked 20th in the driver points standings. He is 44 markers behind the provisional playoff cutoff line. As it stands now, Bowman needs to gain an average of 15 points per race on the cutline to point his way into the postseason. Despite a 60-point penalty in April and missing three points-paying races in the spring with an injury, Bowman still can make the top 16 for the playoffs. The 30-year-old driver has three top-five finishes, six top-10s and the DAYTONA 500 pole award in 20 starts this season.
ROAD TESTED: Bowman has two runner-up finishes on road courses in his time at Hendrick Motorsports -- at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2019 and Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in 2022. The Tucson, Arizona, native is one of two drivers with multiple second-place showings without a win on this track type. Earlier this year, he finished third at COTA for his fourth career top-five result at a road course.
INDY FLASHBACK: Last year, Bowman pulled double duty at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, running the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday before Sunday’s Cup Series race. He started the Xfinity race in fourth and finished the first stage in third en route to his runner-up result at the 2.439-mile road course. Bowman will run next weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevy.
HARRIS IN INDY: No. 48 crew chief Blake Harris has one start atop the pit box at the serpentine layout of Indianapolis. The 36-year-old shot caller’s driver in 2022 started the event in seventh before finishing the 86-lap race in eighth. As a crew chief, Harris has one top-five finish and three top-10s in seven career road course starts.
SAVE THEM ALL: Bowman and primary partner Ally are teaming up this year to bring back the Best Friends Animal Society donation effort. This week, the duo will make charitable contributions to Medical Mutts Service Dogs, which serves the local community in Indianapolis. Bowman and Ally will donate $4,800 to Best Friends and Medical Mutts Service Dogs. Ally will increase its donation to $10,000 if the No. 48 team wins on Sunday.
HOME SWEET HOME: No. 48 team car chief Ty Sipes hails from Bloomfield, Indiana, which is located approximately one hour and 45 minutes southwest of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Growing up on a small hobby farm, Sipes gained experience racing at local tracks. In 2010, he started working on a small sprint car team traveling in the USAC Series. He earned his mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University in 2012 and later got an opportunity to work with Kasey Kahne’s World of Outlaws sprint car team. He joined Hendrick Motorsports during the latter part of the 2014 season and got his first Cup Series win at his home state track in 2017 on the No. 5 team of Kahne.
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the final three races in the 2023 regular season: "I think we have a shot each week to win at Hendrick Motorsports. The last few weeks we have run well and just had some bad luck. With the way this season has played out, to even be in the hunt for a spot speaks volumes about this team and how well our season started. We are all going to stay focused on the race we have each week and try to go maximize where we can."
Blake Harris, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his expectations for Indianapolis: "Alex (Bowman) has had really good road course races over in the Next Gen car. Looking back at COTA, he has run super strong there. While last year his day was ended early in the Cup car (at Indy), he had a great run in the Xfinity race, so we can build off of his success there and the notes Hendrick Motorsports has as an organization and go try to compete for a win. This team is plenty of capable knocking one down before the end of the season." | 
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