Bowles-Eye View

Aug. 5, 2018 at Watkins Glen International should have been a watershed moment for NASCAR and CEO Brian France. 22-year-old Chase Elliott, running his third full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, finally got over the hump. The soon-to-be Most Popular Driver earned his first career victory on the road …

Sunday, Sept. 24, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Richard Childress spoke out about protesting the American national anthem. It would be a full 18 hours before any other meaningful voice in the sport was heard. “Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be …

As the laps wound down at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, the leaderboard of NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400 read like a Who’s Who of Cinderella stories. You had David Ragan in the lead, running for a Front Row Motorsports team that struggles to crack the top 25 most weeks. Other names in …

Three years ago, Martin Truex Jr. led a total of just one lap in the Cup Series. His team had won at NASCAR’s top level only once, at Darlington in the 2011 Southern 500. Kyle Larson? He was halfway through a rookie season in which he never cashed in on Victory …

For Bubba Wallace, it couldn’t wait. Moments earlier, Wallace had fainted while answering questions for a throng of print and online media. The driver blamed it on anxiety over mistakes made in his first start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The reality might be dehydration on a hot, humid day …

As the sun beamed down on Dover International Speedway, car owner Rick Hendrick was still taking it all in. Driver Jimmie Johnson had snatched a victory, his record 11th at the Monster Mile, right out of a dominant Kyle Larson’s hands and no one on his own team believed it. Crew chief Chad Knaus found the …

NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. news cycle finally got trumped in the sporting world by Thursday night’s NFL draft. As you read this, stories are popping up over names like Mitch Trubisky, Jabrill Peppers and I-can’t-remember-his-name-but-god-he-better-help-my-team. It’s a reminder for all that life must go on. At Hendrick Motorsports, those words ring …

20 years ago, Carl Edwards walked around telling his world he’d rise to the top in NASCAR. No one believed him. 20 years later, Edwards walked to the podium, an established NASCAR star and told the world he was walking away. No one wanted to believe him. Yet here he was, the opening …

Martin Truex, Jr.’s thrilling Southern 500 win Sunday night brought up memories of the last time Furniture Row Racing visited Darlington Victory Lane. It was in the spring of 2011, the driver was Regan Smith and the struggling one-car team had only recently returned to full-time competition after scaling back during …

The list is just as talented as it is long. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones… we could go on for awhile. All of these drivers are age 32 or younger, have yet to reach the prime of their NASCAR career and are expected …