Alex Bowman will return to Spire Motorsports‘ #7 Chevrolet Silverado RST and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on 20 May. The start is intended to provide extra practice ahead of the Cup Series‘ NASCAR All-Star Race there the following day.
In 2022, Bowman raced for Spire’s then-newborn Truck programme at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma, nearly winning the former before late contact and a spin while fighting for the lead pushed him down to twenty-fifth. His Sonoma race ended with a crash after seventy laps.
“Last year we were really fast in the Truck race at COTA and I am hoping we can be fast again this year,” Bowman commented. “It would be really cool to get a truck win and have won a race in all three of NASCAR’s top series. I feel like racing there in the truck will help me get ready for Sunday as well.”
Spire, a Truck arm to the two-car Cup Series team, had one of their Cup drivers Corey LaJoie run the 2023 season opener at Daytona. Despite leading the most laps, he was shuffled back when the race was shortened due to rain and classified twenty-third. The team ran eleven races during their début year in 2022 with Bowman, William Byron, Rajah Caruth, Chase Elliott, Austin Hill, and Dylan Lupton; Byron and Elliott are Bowman’s Cup team-mates at Hendrick Motorsports, with the former winning at Martinsville.
In the Cup Series, Bowman sits twenty-ninth in points due to a 100-point penalty incurred by him and each of his Hendrick colleagues. If not for the deduction, he would be the points leader with top tens in four of five races; he also won the Daytona 500 pole for the third time to start the season.
“We’re thrilled to have Alex back in the seat of the #7 truck for a couple races this season,” said crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion. “He was a tremendous asset in 2022 and will be again in 2023. Alex is a savvy road racer and as good of a short-track racer as they come. We have no doubt that Alex gives Spire Motorsports a strong opportunity to win races every time he’s behind the wheel.”
Bowman is not the only Cup driver using the Truck race to prepare for the All-Star as Byron is in the #51 for Kyle Busch Motorsports while Christopher Bell will drive the #1 for TRICON Garage.
