12 Questions with Alex Bowman

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Alex Bowman, a second-year Sprint Cup Series driver in his first season with Tommy Baldwin Racing.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: There's been a couple race cars that I'd want to listen to music in, but probably not in NASCAR. You've got so much communication going on with your spotter that I wouldn't want to disrupt that. But going back and driving a dirt sprint car or a dirt midget, some of those places would be fun to listen to music.

What would make it fun in those cars?

A lot of driving in those cars is determined by the mood you're in. Like when they're real heavy and your car is real tight, you've got to drive them ridiculously hard. Sometimes you just need to be pumped up to be able to do that.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: My first legitimate paycheck was probably driving a midget for my buddy J.R. at Perris (Auto Speedway in Southern California). We broke a rear end in hot laps and didn't have a spare to fix it and I got in his car and ran. I think we finished second or third and he paid me a percentage of the paycheck. I was 14 or 15 at the time.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: Travis Pastrana or Josh Wise. I was a big sprint car or midget fan, so going to USAC races and watching Josh run was always fun. He was always the man back then and he was always one of my heroes that I looked up to.

Have you ever brought that up to him?

Yeah, he remembers me from when I was younger, just being around the racetrack and stuff. We've talked about it here and there.

Q: Where's a place you've never been that you'd like to go visit?

A: I really want to go to Europe. I want to do like a Top Gear-style road trip through Europe. It would cost a lot of money, but it'd be a lot of fun.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: Yeah, my girlfriend. All the time! She always tries to make me put my phone away or hide it or whatever. She's all about that.

So she's not on her phone as often?

Oh, she's on her phone more. But she's a girl so it's OK for her, right? (Laughs) Whatever makes it OK for her and not for me, I don't know.

Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: Probably not. I wouldn't give up anything I have a ton of fun with to have one trophy. I guess it'd mean a lot to win that championship, but at the same time, I kind of prefer just having fun and enjoying what I'm doing more than having a trophy to look at.

What would you not want to give up?

It would probably be something car-related, with all the (street car) stuff I do. I can't think of anything that would make me give that up.

Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: It's typically me pissed at them. (Laughs) If I use Tommy (Baldwin's) method, I'd probably get in a lot more trouble because he's a lot more vocal about it than I am. I haven't really been put in any situations where I've had to deal with anybody who was super angry after a race. I talked to Danica (Patrick) after Phoenix and she was mad at me, but all I did was talk to her. Really nothing special.

Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?

A: I get "Kyle Larson!" every single time I walk into the Cup garage. And this year I've gotten JJ Yeley a couple times —probably because he's driving the car I drove last year. I also get Ryan Truex here and there as well. But Ryan and I both get Kyle Larson more than anything.

I don't really see the resemblance.

Yeah, I guess just being young and the fans not knowing what he looks like and the fans just pointing out a young kid, thinking it's him.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: Does it have to be Cup racing?

No.

I would go to Formula One in the 60s, 70s or 80s. I think those cars were really cool. They didn't make all the crazy downforce they make now. They had more motor, more tire; it was just cool racing back then. If you could drive, you got a ride a lot of the time; it wasn't as much selling funding to go get a ride.

Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?

A: Probably be invisible so when my girlfriend or Tommy are mad at me, I could just be invisible and hide. (Laughs) I think that'd be pretty convenient. Plus, you could be a fly on the wall in a lot of interesting conversations.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Brad Keselowski, and he wanted to know: If you could change one thing about the NASCAR media, what would it be?

A: Man, that's tough. Honestly, I feel like there have been some stories written that portrayed people in a negative light that I feel didn't really deserve it. I feel like a lot of people in the media just want their story to be read, and some people don't really care how it affects that driver or how it portrays them.

Some of the stuff that's been written in the past couple years has gone too far in some things or taken a stance on drivers who I think if anybody knew them in the garage, they'd know the article was kind of B.S.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver? It's AJ Allmendinger.

A: Does he move the seat way forward to reach the pedals or does he move the pedals back to him? (Laughs) Is that appropriate?

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: It was about an 8 up until the Allmendinger question, and I think that propelled it right to a 10. (Laughs)