Jeff Gordon makes bold NASCAR Playoff prediction | Sports News

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon has backed Alex Bowman and his No.48 staff to be a shock pacakge because the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs will get underway.

Bowman made it to the postseason after an anxious wait at Daytona final weekend, backtracking on his bold promise to Ryan Blaney after his win secured his spot.

All eyes are on his three Hendrick teammates among the many championship favorites, with William Byron profitable the regular-season factors championship whereas former champions Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are additionally tipped to problem as soon as again. Elliott, in the meantime, lately defined his quantity change with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Richard Petty to thank.

While there’s far much less expectation on Bowman to make a deep run, Gordon has boldy predicted he can advance far into the playoffs, insisting his performances and outcomes are higher than his nervy playoff destiny urged. 

And whereas he acknowledged there’s most likely more strain on Bowman, he backed the 32-year-old to rise to the event. 

Gordon mentioned on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio: “The team is solid. Blake (Harris) is doing a great job. Alex, I mean, you just look at their performance, where they’ve been running.

“OK, the win column, that didn’t come yet, and in this format, that’s an important piece of getting locked in. 

“But if you just look at the points they’ve been scoring, where they’ve been running in the field, man, don’t be surprised if they go deeper than anybody anticipates in the playoffs.

“Hey, they’ve got work to do, right. You get behind as far as going into this first round without those added bonus and playoff points, you’ve got a bit of an uphill climb.

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“I think there’s three or four teams, not just the ones kind of the outside looking in as you go about it that way, what people post of, ‘OK we’re going into this round and these four are already knocked out’, which I don’t necessarily agree with.

“But there’s definitely more pressure on those teams, and I think there’s pressure on the 48 team, but I also have a lot of confidence.

“Alex handles pressure well. I was joking with him the other day, like, ‘man listen, I think you do as good a job as anybody or better’ and he’s like ‘well, I’ve probably had more experience’.

“They’re going to utilize that experience over those next three weeks, and I just think the cars they’re bringing, the performance they’ve shown, I think they can definitely advance.”