By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
A seventh-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in the STP 500 was what Alex Bowman and the No. 88 team from Hendrick Motorsports needed.
Since the 2018 season started, Bowman has not had a finish in the top-10. However, he was shocked that his first top-10 of the season came at Martinsville.
“No, not at all. I mean Daytona, and then if not Daytona then Atlanta, and then if not Atlanta, Phoenix, I mean we are here to win races every week,” stated Bowman. “To take this long to get a Top 10 it’s not what we wanted at all, but glad we are going the right way.”
With the seventh place, Bowman sees his finish at Martinsville Speedway as a step in the right direction for Hendrick Motorsports. However, there is still more steps for the organization as they learn each other and the Camaro ZL1.
According to Bowman, nobody at the Hendrick compound is making a big deal out of the slump. This slump for the entire organization is making the guys in the shop work harder.
“Nobody has really made a big deal of anything. Obviously, you read media stuff and everybody is all fired up, but we know we are off, but everybody is just real motivated and working harder,” continued Bowman.
“It’s a lot of guys that have won a lot of races and they want to get back to that winning feeling. So, they are all working really hard and got the best in the business back at the shop working to get better.
On pit road, crew chief, Greg Ives, made small adjustments to help Bowman pilot his Chevrolet to the top-10. The adjustments were made in air pressure allowing for Bowman to use the trackbar adjuster in the car more. Bowman said the changes made were solid all day.
With only four cautions for a competition caution, stage breaks and an incident, Bowman did not describe the day at Martinsville as low-key, but a physical one.
“I had my hands full. It wasn’t mellow for me. I’m a little worn out. That was a physical one for me at least,” finished Bowman. “I changed some stuff inside the racecar that made me able to go faster, but probably wore me out a little quicker. I’m glad that I didn’t fall out of the seat there because it was pretty physical, but it was fun.”
With his finish at Martinsville, Bowman sits 14th in the points standings, 112 points behind leader, Kyle Busch.