Bowman Rockets To Homestead Cup Series Pole

Alex Bowman in action Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Alex Bowman continued his steady climb back to prominence in the NASCAR Cup Series with a stirring Busch Light Pole Award Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bowman’s lap of 31.982 seconds (168.845 mph) in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet gave the 31-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., his sixth Cup Series pole and first on a 1.5-mile intermediate oval.

He’ll look to convert the fast start into his first downforce-track victory in three years come Sunday afternoon in the Straight Talk Wireless 400.

“Looking up, it looks like we got some clouds at just the right time. You’re never going to pass that up,” said Bowman after his time-trial run. “This is great for this team. We’ve overcome a lot this year; I don’t think a lot of people realize the number of things we’ve had go wrong throughout our races, so the seventh-place finishes we’ve had the past two weeks are pretty good, all things considered.

“Now that we’ve got track position to start, we just need to have everything go right and then execute all day, like I know that we’re capable of,” he added. “We’ve got some work to do on our long-run speed, but at least we’re starting up front, we’ll have a good pit stall (selection), and we’ll put our best foot forward.”

Bowman was also quick to pay tribute to longtime family friend and USAC mainstay Chuck Leary, who passed away Thursday and whose son C.J. has driven midgets and sprint cars for Bowman’s dirt-track team over the years.

Alex Bowman with the Busch Light Pole Award at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday. (James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)

“Maybe Chuck Smash gave us some clouds there,” Bowman chuckled. “Losing him this week … we’re going to miss him. He meant a lot to us and a lot of others, and I’ve been thinking about the Leary family for the last few days. Glad to get the Ally (No.) 48 up front for them and all our partners.”

Joining Bowman on the front row at Homestead is Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry, who won the Cup Series’ most recent event at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and hopes to build on his 1.5-mile success by fighting for a second straight win this weekend.

Berry was .063 seconds adrift of the pole-winning lap with a time of 32.055 seconds (168.460 mph) in the No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

“I’m just really proud of everyone on this (No.) 21 team,” said Berry when asked about his momentum of late. “The car has been really solid. The guys are doing a great job. We’re executing our Saturdays, and now we just have to translate it into a solid day tomorrow.

“This track is really fun. I felt good about my car in practice,” Berry added. “We got in some traffic and, because of that, I know we’ve got a few things to work on to be better … but overall this is a great effort.”

Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson led for a large portion of the qualifying session before ending up third (32.101/168.219), with Chase Briscoe qualifying fourth (32.116/168.140) as the best Toyota.

Daytona 500 winner William Byron rounded out the top five in qualifying, ahead of Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, and A.J. Allmendinger.

Notables lining up deeper in Sunday’s field include three-time and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano (12th), Kyle Larson (14th), three-time season winner Christopher Bell (16th), Kyle Busch (22nd), and Denny Hamlin (23rd), the all-time winningest Cup Series driver at Homestead with three victories.

With 37 entries on hand, no drivers failed to qualify for the sixth race of the Cup Series season.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 is slated for 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90. Tyler Reddick won last year’s Miami event.