The sun officially rose over the area surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina, at 5:41 a.m. ET Monday morning.
It was playing catchup to Alex Bowman.
Bowman and a large group of friends with adult beverages took the Garth Brook’s song “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up)” to heart as they celebrated his first career Cup win less than 12 hours earlier at Chicagoland Speedway.
MORE: Long: Cup victory marks giant step forward for Alex Bowman
Bowman announced on Twitter at 5:29 a.m. ET that he and his friends were getting ready to welcome the sun to the party.
We’re still up.... bout to watch the sunrise 🤘🏼🤘🏼😜
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
To everybody who doubted... pic.twitter.com/m3jwiNyM6s
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
After his win Sunday, Bowman said the weight of the victory would sink in once he returned home.
“I feel like once I’m able to kind of go home and be back with the people that were there for the years of running 35th and the same core group of people that I’ve been friends with my whole life, when I get to go home and share it with them, it’s going to be really special,” Bowman said. “Probably won’t be able to talk about it because I probably won’t remember it. But no, we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
I have a lot of unread text messages and my head hurts 😆🤦🏻♂️
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
Led 88 laps @ChicagolndSpdwy
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
Reached 88K twitter followers this morning
Now wondering if I drank 88 🍻 last night... pic.twitter.com/PTWZ051p1T
Highlight of the night was people chugging bottles of maple syrup for cash. It was a scene straight out of super troopers. pic.twitter.com/ApcdpJod7V
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
iMessage needs a reply all button 😂
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 1, 2019
Still reading messages, appreciate them all! But now... sleep ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/GaoeMLbsRe
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) July 2, 2019
Bowman also joked he planned a special celebratory act for his crew chief Greg Ives.
“I’m going to throw him in the pool in about three hours,” Bowman declared.
At press time, it was unknown if Ives had met his watery fate. But he did spend the early morning hours tweeting about what the win meant to him.
Mom was everything I work for. When she got sick and I begged to come home to take of her, she said no!, you have a job to do. Miss her, love her, need her every day. https://t.co/6qf5Dm1F4U
— Greg Ives (@Ives_Greg) July 1, 2019
Let’s not worry about the past. The future is here! https://t.co/cPepIqMYGx
— Greg Ives (@Ives_Greg) July 1, 2019
We came to @TeamHendrick together and been friends, teammates, and colleagues for years. Nothing better than to honor that with a win. https://t.co/Z7tiKBNX0A
— Greg Ives (@Ives_Greg) July 1, 2019
Thanks Rodney, I am thankful I can participate amongst the great CCs like yourself. It is always fun to have family at the track and even better with a win. https://t.co/GG7SayIM8e
— Greg Ives (@Ives_Greg) July 1, 2019