The stakes were established 12 months ago, but Alex Bowman is still waiting to take on the boss man.
After he won the pole for the 2018 Daytona 500, Bowman and car owner Rick Hendrick revealed they were planning a drag race.
Bowman’s personal Corvette versus Hendrick’s. Winner may or may not get the loser’s car.
“One of us is going to lose a Corvette,’’ Hendrick said then.
But February has arrived with Daytona Speedweeks and the race has yet to take place.
The weather is an alleged culprit.
“Mr. H says we can (race), but we can’t run until it gets warmer outside,” Bowman said Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. “It was like 70-some degrees the day before we left (North Carolina). But he needs it warmer. I guess his car doesn’t like it when it’s cold or something.”
But Bowman, entering his second full-time season driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, said there’s been too much talk between him and Hendrick for it to not happen.
“Eventually, it’s gotta happen,” Bowman said. “‘Cause I know he has hired some people to purposely make his car faster than mine. I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve, too. We’re both pretty invested in this race for it not to happen, to just be talking about it for the last two years. It kind of has to happen at this point.”
Bowman is hopeful the race will happen “in the next couple of months.”
But Bowman wouldn’t dare call his employer “scared” for possibly dragging his feet for the drag race.
“If I called him scared right now, it’s going to end really badly for me,” Bowman said. “I’m going to show up and he’s going to have a six-second drag car or seven-second drag car. I do not think Mr. Hendrick is scared of drag racing my street car. I think he’s just making sure he embarrasses me. He doesn’t just (want to) beat me by a little bit. He’s got to beat me by a lot.”