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Alex Bowman’s NASCAR Cup Series season continues with a return to his home track, Phoenix Raceway. He will use this race to showcase a special, new scheme on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.
According to an announcement from Hendrick Motorsports, Ally will once again share the No. 48 with Best Friends Animal Society during two upcoming races. This new scheme will make its debut at Phoenix Raceway on March 12 and it will continue at another race later in the season.
The Best Friends design has similarities to the night and day schemes that Bowman runs each week of the Cup Series season. However, there are massive Best Friends logos on the sides along with paw prints. The orange from the Best Friends logo bleeds into the design and mixes with the Ally colors.
The Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society has the goal of helping connect people with companions while also pushing for a no-kill future. Bowman has been a supporter of Best Friends Animal Society for multiple seasons, and he has joined forces with Ally to donate money to animal shelters in the areas surrounding each track on the Cup Series schedule.
The 2021 season saw Bowman and Ally each donating $1,000 to Best Friends-affiliated shelters each week. In 2022, they increased the amount to $4,800 total each week. If Bowman won, the amount went up to $10,000, something that occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The amounts have remained the same entering the 2023 Cup Series season, and they have set up Bowman and Ally for a major milestone. This partnership has already raised $362,000 total through the Las Vegas weekend, and it will top $500,000 by the end of the season.
Only 1 Race Was Revealed by Hendrick Motorsports
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GettyAlex Bowman prepares for qualifying at Phoenix Raceway.
Bowman has used a Best Friends scheme during two different events. The first was the 2021 InstaCart 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The second was the 2022 Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway. He will once again put Best Friends on display at Phoenix while also expanding the deal to include a second event.
The announcement focusing on the return of Best Friends Animal Society provided the location of the first race — Phoenix. The second was kept under wraps, which only created questions about when the scheme could return.
There are multiple options that stand out. The most likely options are tracks where Bowman won and increased the amount of money that he donated to a local Best Friends-affiliated animal shelter.
The driver of the No. 48 has seven career Cup Series wins, but two of the tracks — Chicagoland Speedway and Auto Club Speedway — are no longer on the schedule. Bowman also won at these tracks before he began partnering with Ally.
This leaves Richmond Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the best options for a Best Friends Animal Society scheme return.
Bowman’s previous wins at these remaining tracks all featured Ally as his primary partner, and four of them took place during the 2021 season. His win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway occurred early in the 2022 season.
Richmond and Martinsville each host two upcoming races while Dover and Pocono have one each. Las Vegas has the fall race remaining on the schedule.
Bowman Has 1 Main Goal Heading Toward Phoenix
The return to Arizona provides Bowman with an opportunity to showcase another Best Friends scheme. It also sets him up to pursue another goal. Bowman just wants to enjoy a solid day at Phoenix Raceway.
“I feel like I’ve ran poorly at that track quite a bit, so I would like just a good, solid day, honestly,” Bowman said during a press conference at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “If we went and just ran top-10 all day, I’d be pretty happy with how the last five years have gone there.”
Bowman has made 15 starts at Phoenix Raceway in his Cup Series career — 11 with Hendrick Motorsports. He has an average finish of 23.8 with three DNFs.
Bowman’s lone top-10 finish was sixth overall in 2016 when he started from the pole. A run of five consecutive top-20 finishes represents his other best performances. Now, he will return to Phoenix Raceway in pursuit of another top-10 finish. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.
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