NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
ROUND OF 16: ELIMINATION RACE
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
SEPT. 20, 2024
Bowman, Larson Drives Chevrolet to Front Row Sweep at Bristol
- A pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates powered their Camaro ZL1’s to a front row sweep for the Round of 16 Elimination Race at Bristol Motor Speedway – led by Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 team, who posted a monster best-lap of 15.142 seconds to claim the pole position.
- The pole – Bowman’s first of the season – marks the 31-year-old Tucson, Arizona, native’s fifth career pole in NASCAR’s top division, and his first on a short track.
- Bowman delivered Chevrolet its ninth pole of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season; the manufacturer’s 40th pole at Bristol Motor Speedway; and its 752nd all-time in the division.
- Leading Chevrolet in the playoff rankings heading into the first elimination race, Bowman started the Bristol race weekend posting top-10 speeds throughout the extended practice session. Building on that speed, Bowman topped his group’s first round of qualifying en route to the pole-winning lap in the final round.
- Joining Bowman on the front row for tomorrow’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race will be teammate Kyle Larson, who laid down a lap of 15.183 seconds, at 126.378 mph, in his No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1.
- A strong contingency of Team Chevy drivers claimed top-10 qualifying results at the Tennessee high-banked half-mile, with William Byron starting third; Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie in the seventh and ninth positions, respectively; and Chase Elliott rounding out the top-10.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Win Quotes
Talk about your pole winning lap here at Bristol Motor Speedway:
“I thought we struggled a little bit in practice, more than I was expecting. And then really in qualifying, I just had a lot of grip. I was a little bit too tight. It was one of those situations where you run a lap and you’re like – it’s either going to be really good or really slow. When your tight, you just slow down until you can turn it. Yeah, I mean obviously after the first round, I felt pretty good about it. I’m thankful to start up front and qualify well. Obviously qualifying hasn’t been our strongest suit over the years, so with it being a cutoff race and everything, starting up front is definitely important.”
It looks like you did a little over 70 laps on your first run on tires. Did it feel like a year ago here, or did it feel like the spring here?
“Yeah, I mean I think it’s back to where it was a year ago. I didn’t really see any unusual wear. They don’t fall off that much. So definitely curious as to what the variable is there, right? I think there’s a lot of smart people that will figure out what that variable is; between the tests here, the spring race and everything, with the same stuff causing different results. Yeah, I think we’re in for Bristol a year ago, more than Bristol from the spring. Unless all the rubber comes up off the track overnight for whatever reason, I think that would create the spring race again. But barring that happening, I think it’ll be kind of normal Bristol again.”
Given that now you have the best starting spot in the house, do you think this will change your strategy, in terms of approaching it going for stage points now that you have track position, or is this trying to set yourself up for the win?
“I think typically at Bristol races, like the stage points guys are the guys that contend for the win, just with how the way strategy falls. But if that’s not the case, I think it’s obviously important for us to lock-in through the stages, if we can, just with how crazy this place can get and how easy it is to get caught up in somebody else’s mess. Sometimes not getting the finish you want is frustrating, like last weekend was for us. But guaranteeing yourself those points through the stages is important to do when you can. So yeah, we’ll see how the strategy stacks up, but I think it will kind of be business-as-usual.”
First true short track pole for you. I know maybe traditionally, the results haven’t always shown for you on the short tracks, but you were fourth here in the spring and eighth at Martinsville. Is it a case where you and Blake (Harris) have finally found more of a feel of what you’re looking for this year on short tracks?
“Yeah, I mean I don’t know. We’ve won at Martinsville and Richmond. Obviously that was the old car, but yeah, I think we’ve just been better since the playoffs have started, really. We’ve unloaded faster. We’ve just had more raw pace, in general. I don’t really think we’re doing anything different, just things have worked out a little better for us. Certainly going into qualifying, I obviously had what I needed to make a really comfortable lap, and it worked out to be really fast.”
To show this kind of pace and have this kind of improvement at this point of the season, how critical is that for you and this No. 48 team?
“Yeah, I mean I think it’s important, right? Like we have the tools that we need to go do it, it’s just a matter of using them correctly; going to work and finding the results. We’ve definitely had streaks of great runs throughout the season, and we’ve had some runs that haven’t been so great, too. Obviously starting the playoffs strong is really important for us, and continuing that positive momentum forward is really key.”
This is the first pole that you’ve won for a race that isn’t the Daytona 500, since Phoenix 2016. I know you said qualifying isn’t your strong suit over the years, but does it feel like it’s been that long?
“Yeah, I mean honestly, qualifying has probably been our weakest link over the years. So it definitely feels good to be able to change that here lately. Obviously we’ve qualified pretty well over the last couple of weeks. It’s weird because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different. I’ve worked really hard all season, and qualifying has certainly been something that I’ve continued to try and improve on. If anything, I’ve probably studied a little less, particularly for qualifying, this week. But yeah, I think we’ve just had faster race cars here lately and it’s shown.”
If this ends up being a traditional Bristol race and if track position is really, really important, how does this help set you up for the first two stages and building a points buffer and how that can potentially help you in the Round of 12?
“Yeah, I think it sets us up really well, honestly. The best you can, right? Obviously pit stall one is big, every time. Our pit crew has been on it this year, so that will be really good for us. Honestly we struggled a little bit in practice. We have some work to do on our race trim stuff, but yeah, it puts us in the best position we can start in and it gives us the best pit stall, so we’ll have that going for us.”
How do you sum up the last two or three months? You go from getting a needed win at Chicago, having to answer questions about your contract. And then all of a sudden, here is the performance turnaround that everybody has been waiting for. You guys have said ‘we can do this’, and here it is.
“I mean I think that’s just the story of my Cup career, in general, right? It’s always been that way. There’s never been – I mean, you know, the years we won the second-most races of anybody and it was still the same questions and the same stuff. Yeah, I mean just continuing to try and improve, and I think our team is in a good spot right now. But yeah, honestly, the last couple of months, the rumor mill got going more than normal. But I feel like I’ve answered those same questions for five or six years now. So I’m used to it, at this point.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
