Bowman Ends Long Xfinity Pole Drought At Home Track

Alex Bowman poses after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. (Gavin Baker/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Making his lone scheduled NASCAR Xfinity Series appearance of the year and at his home racetrack, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman soared to the pole position for the GOVX 200 Saturday morning.

Driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, Bowman toured Phoenix Raceway in 27.276 seconds (131.984 mph) to top a 38-car field in qualifying at the one-mile desert oval.

It marked the fourth career Kennametal Pole Award and first Phoenix Xfinity Series pole for the driver who grew up two hours southeast of Phoenix in Tucson, Ariz.

“What’s funny is that, honestly, I didn’t feel like it was the greatest lap,” admitted Bowman. “I missed the entry to (turn) one a little bit and got myself a little bit tight, but it all worked out in the end, I guess. I’m really happy with the HendrickCars.com Chevy so far. The Xfinity cars are so fun to drive. Thanks to Mr. H (team owner Rick Hendrick) and everyone at Hendrick Automotive Group for the chance to drive this thing.

“I’m enjoying the heck out of it to this point.”

Saturday was also Bowman’s first Xfinity Series pole since June 11, 2016, at Michigan Int’l Speedway – a span of 3,192 days. It’s the third longest time between poles in the history of NASCAR’s second highest division.

With Cup Series practice and qualifying still to come, making for a lot of track time throughout the day, Bowman believes the Phoenix surface has a lot of evolution to come before Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity Series race.

“In the Xfinity car, the track will rubber up and I assume (the groove) will widen out a bit,” Bowman explained. “We’ve seen over the years that the apron comes into play a lot in turns one and two, and the top still comes into play even though they haven’t sprayed it (with traction compound) in a while, so there should be a lot of options as the race goes on.

“I had a lot of fun in traffic during practice and I expect it to be the same way in race conditions as well.”

Joining Bowman on the Xfinity Series front row is Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, who also went out in the second half of time trials and turned the second-best lap at 27.359 seconds (131.584 mph) with his No. 00 Pit Boss Grills Ford.

Creed remains on the hunt for his first Xfinity Series victory after 13 career runner-up finishes, including one at Phoenix in November of 2023.

“With our race setup, I felt OK, but was just a little bit tight … and it got a bit free on us in qualifying,” Creed noted. “I didn’t really know exactly how we’d stack up, but I thought I put a decent lap together. I feel like there might have been a little better out there by the time I went out (to qualify) though.

“Still got a good starting spot, and we’ll work hard to get ready for the race and see how we stack up.”

JR Motorsports teammates Sammy Smith (27.415/131.315) and rookie Connor Zilisch (27.455/131.124) share the second row of the starting grid, with Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love rolling off fifth (27.517/130.828).

Rookies William Sawalich and Nick Sanchez qualified sixth and seventh, followed by Aric Almirola, another rookie contender in Taylor Gray, and Austin Hill.

Notables starting outside the top 10 include Sam Mayer (13th); defending series champion Justin Allgaier (14th), who was fastest in practice; Brandon Jones (16th); Christian Eckes (20th); Harrison Burton (21st); Carson Kvapil (24th); Anthony Alfredo (25th); and Ryan Sieg (30th).

Sieg reportedly hit a raised curb in the Xfinity Series garage following his qualifying effort and could be forced to drop to the tail end of the field for the start if his No. 39 team has to make any unapproved repairs.

With 38 drivers in attendance for 38 starting spots, no one failed to qualify for race four of the season.

Broadcast coverage of the GOVX 200 is slated for 5 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.