No matter what a driver’s talent behind the wheel is, it takes a crew chief that he can depend upon and trust in for him to maximize his abilities in a racecar. And for years, Alex Bowman has had just that in Greg Ives.
In 2016, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sidelined with post-concussion syndrome, Ives inherited Bowman — then a young and unproven Cup driver who had abruptly lost his ride at Tommy Baldwin Racing prior to the start of the season — and was tasked with giving him what he needed to showcase his talent as Earnhardt’s substitute driver. In 2018, the two were paired together again when Earnhardt retired, and they’ve been successful ever since with seven wins, two Daytona 500 poles, and five playoff appearances with a best finish of sixth in the final standings in 2020.
But in spite of their success, their time together as driver and crew chief is coming to an end. Ives recently announced that he will step down as crew chief of Bowman’s No. 48 team at the end of the 2022 season, taking another role at Hendrick Motorsports in order to focus on his family and his son Parker’s efforts as a go-kart racer.
Speaking to CBS Sports, Bowman expressed support for Ives’ decision to step away, sharing that he and his crew chief had discussed the matter in the weeks before his announcement.
“I think he’s got a lot going on with his family and Parker racing, so much going on at home, and the (NASCAR) schedule — honestly, It’ll take away from everything else in your life so much,” Bowman told CBS Sports. “I’m happy for him and happy that he’s gonna be able to spend more time with Parker and the rest of his family.
“I think it’s gonna be a fun final nine races together. I think we’re both trying to really enjoy it, and I’ve always really enjoyed working with Greg. I’m glad that he’s still gonna be on the team at HMS, and excited for the future for him.”
While he looks forward to the future for his longtime crew chief, Bowman’s own immediate future entails many things. As the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, and now a veteran of nearly nine seasons, Hendrick Motorsports and team vice president of competition Chad Knaus have availed Bowman significant input and involvement in the process of hiring his new crew chief for 2023.
In a way — especially since Ives inherited him as his driver — Bowman now has the opportunity to make his race team his own by helping select who will work atop the pit box. Still, Bowman has left room for anxiety and trepidation, given that he has never known success in the Cup Series without Ives as his crew chief.
“It’s been an interesting process to have so much input on looking through who we could have as a crew chief next year … But I think there is definitely some nervousness and anxiety to it, right?”, Bowman said. “Like, I’ve never known a successful Cup program without Greg. All the other teams I drove for were small, low-budget teams that we were just trying to get by.
“Then I came to Hendrick Motorsports and we’ve won a lot of races and have been really successful. And that’s all been with Greg. So I don’t know anything else. It’ll be different for sure, and there’s some nervousness to that. But it’s also exciting at the same time.”
The good news for Bowman is that being with a race team of Hendrick Motorsports’ caliber means that there are plenty of options to choose from. While Bowman told CBS Sports that his team’s crew chief search will not be limited to internal candidates and that external candidates will be considered as well, Hendrick Motorsports has a deep roster of personnel who could be considered just as Ives once was, when his road to becoming a crew chief started as a Hendrick mechanic and then an engineer on the No. 48 team.
“I think the best fit for the job is gonna get the job whether they are an internal hire or from somewhere else,” Bowman said. “I think in some situations it definitely does make things easier, and I think that’s one of the best parts of HMS is the depth of really, really good people.
“I think that helps us not only in this situation, but each week — whatever projects we have going on or whatever’s going on at the shop, the depth of great people at HMS is a huge benefit.”
The best way that Bowman can give Ives a proper send-off, and make the No. 48 team’s crew chief opening even more lucrative, is to make a deep run in the NASCAR Playoffs — something that didn’t seem likely just a short while ago.
After scoring three top fives and nine top 10s early in the season, including a win at Las Vegas, Bowman and his team endured an awful stretch of races throughout the summer. He did not score a single top-10 finish in June or July, which included a stretch of four DNFs in a six-race stretch.
Since finally getting another top 10 at Michigan, though, the team’s fortunes have started to look back up. His average finish in the last five races is 13.4, which includes a 10th-place run in the playoff opener at Darlington after having to overcome both damage suffered on pit road and being caught a lap down when the caution came out during a cycle of green flag pit stops.
Entering Kansas — one of his best racetracks statistically — Bowman is 10th in the Round of 16 standings and 10 points above the cutoff line for the Round of 12. Even as he continues to be overlooked in yet another playoff appearance, Bowman’s recent performances have him bullish on what he and his team can do — particularly with him and his crew chief in sync for one last run together.
“I think the last couple weeks before the playoffs started, we were really fast. We may not have shown it, especially Watkins Glen at Daytona, we were really strong. I think those races didn’t end the way we wanted them to, but we had really good speed,” Bowman said. “And then went to Darlington, and I don’t think we were amazing, but we were pretty strong … I think we overcame a lot. To still end up in the top 10 was really strong for us, and I think we’re in a good spot going forward.
“Greg and I are probably the most motivated I’ve ever seen both of us at the same time. We’ve had fast race cars, we’re going to good racetracks for us, and I think we’re in a good place.”
