Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next is Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, who heads back to Pocono Raceway this weekend looking to repeat his 2021 victory there. This interview has been edited for clarity, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions Podcast.1. Do you typically arrive for things early, late or on time, and why?I try really hard to be on time, but I feel like for the most part I’m like three minutes late to everything. Close, but not good enough.Our 7 a.m. Wednesday sim session, I walk in at 7:03 every time. Sometimes it’s like 7:06. That one, for some reason, it’s like I can’t get out of bed or something. I’m lazy and a little bit late.Does anybody say anything?No, for the most part they’re still trying to get everything synced up and turned on and going, so I don’t feel like I’m really holding us up. But maybe I am and nobody’s telling me.2. What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?Honestly, I would say the autograph collectors who have a sheet full of eight cards and want you to sign all of them, and run up in front of a little kid that’s trying to get an autograph and knock them out of the way to get eight cards signed to go sell on eBay. Not a big fan of that.Just let the kid go first. I’ll sign for whoever. But the knocking people out of the way — the stuff that goes on in that area can be kind of funny sometimes.Can you tell when somebody is selling versus when somebody just has a huge personal collection?Yes and no. Anything I’m signing can’t really be sold for very much, so it’s hard to say I sign for many resellers.But sometimes people are just big fans. You see them at multiple races and they’re genuine fans. Other times they’re making some money doing it when they get somebody famous’s autograph. Not mine.3. What is something you’ve learned to stop explaining to people?Myself, I guess. I don’t really have the best answer for that, but I feel like at some point you’ve just got to show up and do your job and do your thing.I’m not much of an explainer anyway. I can’t remember the last time I had to explain something aside from my race car — which clearly I’m not good at explaining that either.A word of caution to autograph seekers: “Anything I’m signing can’t really be sold for very much,” Alex Bowman says. (Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)4. If you could go back to the early days before you reached NASCAR, what is one different decision you wish you had made?None. Honestly, even the stuff that’s gone poorly — like somebody tell me not to race a winged sprint car and I might feel a little better standing here right now (after breaking his back in a sprint car race three years ago) — but all that stuff adds to the story.You learn things from every experience. Enjoying the journey is the biggest thing. There are plenty of mistakes you make, things you said that you wish you could get back, but everything kind of makes you who you are.You said “standing here right now.” If there’s rain in the area, can you tell?Maybe, because my back currently hurts. So maybe it’s going to rain. I haven’t been able to correlate it with weather yet. That would be nice. Like, “Hey guys, the lightning clock’s getting ready to get hit.”5. What is it like to be in a debrief after a bad race?Man, it’s been every week here lately for me. For me, it depends. The bad races that are my fault are really hard for me to let go of. I beat myself up really bad and struggle with that.But if we have a mechanical failure or something happens on pit road or something outside your control happens, it’s really easy for me to let go of.I feel like a lot of people get really mad about those things, and for me, I’m like, “Well, at least it’s not my fault this week!” But honestly, I feel like we do a pretty good job at HMS of taking the bad weeks and learning how to get better from them.6. I’m asking each driver two wild-card questions, one about the past and one about the present. In terms of the past, you’ve taken an unconventional path to get here and won eight Cup races. What are you most proud of in your career?Making it when I shouldn’t have, really. That’s the biggest thing. Making it to Hendrick Motorsports. Obviously, it took a lot of different circumstances, but being prepared to answer that phone call when I got to fill in for Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), and running well enough to open enough doors to then get into the 88 when Dale retired.And then that first win was a big one for me (at Chicagoland Speedway in 2019). Racing Kyle (Larson) back and forth at the end there was really special. Back then, we all knew how good Kyle is, but now he gets looked at as one of the greatest race car drivers of our generation and of all time. To go head-to-head for your first win and swap the lead back and forth and win that race, that was pretty special.What is Alex Bowman most proud of in his career? “Making it when I shouldn’t have, really. That’s the biggest thing. Making it to Hendrick Motorsports.” (Brett Farmer / Getty Images)7. In terms of the present, what was it like dealing with vertigo at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season, and how would you describe it to somebody who has never experienced it?Have you ever drank way too much and got the spins? That’s it. Except I couldn’t lay on the couch and hang my leg off the side of the couch to fix it. That’s honestly the easiest way to describe it.I was obviously throwing up all over myself. I was dizzy. I was spinning. It wasn’t a lot of fun.There was a misconception from fans that when I was sitting at home the next couple weeks, I was sitting there with vertigo the whole time. Thankfully, I was not. The race car was about the only thing that could make that happen, other than some tests that the doctors put me through.But yeah, it sucked a lot. Glad to be feeling better from that now, but it was not a lot of fun.8. If you could get any driver’s helmet in the history of motorsports, whose would it be?That’s a good question. It’s really hard to pick just one.Do you trade helmets?I haven’t. I mean, I’m not cool enough to trade a helmet. Nobody’s wanted to trade a helmet with me, I don’t think.But Smoke (Tony Stewart) is probably the top of the list. I grew up not being a Tony Stewart fan, but then getting to meet him, be around him, get to know him and race against him for quite awhile, now I’m a huge Tony Stewart fan. That’s probably high on the list.Then Michael Schumacher, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon — the normal list.9. When things are not going well, do you prefer that people leave you alone or check in on you?I prefer people leave me alone all the time. (Laughs.) I don’t know how to react to people when they check in on me. I’m like, “Yep, I’m still here. Still doing this.” I don’t know what to say, regardless of what the situation is.Honestly, the funniest part about the multiple times I’ve been injured with HMS is there are so many layers of people who call me and ask me the exact same question. It starts at the top.Rick (Hendrick) calls me, then Jeff Gordon calls me, then Jeff Andrews calls me, then Chad Knaus calls me, then Blake (Harris, his crew chief) calls me, then a massive list of people from (sponsor) Ally call me. And I’m like, “I just need a recording to start playing.”I appreciate the sentiment and that people care! I just don’t know how to react well to it. I’m too awkward, I guess. Or shy. I don’t know.10. What is something about yourself that would surprise people who think they know you?I switched from whiskey to tequila lately. That’s probably something that would surprise people.What prompted that?It’s the summer.11. What is something you laugh about now that was absolutely not funny at the time?Getting fired by Tommy Baldwin on Twitter (Bowman learned he was fired from Tommy Baldwin Racing from a tweet while scrolling on his phone in 2016 while in line at a drive-thru). That definitely wasn’t funny at all, but thank God it happened.That’s right. And the drive-thru story is iconic.Yeah. Thank God I hadn’t just driven straight to the shop, and that I stopped for Taco Bell. Everything happens for a reason, and it definitely worked out for the best.12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last driver was Riley Herbst, and he wants to know: “What is the most fun-to-drive race car you’ve ever raced?”A drift car. Well, it’s not really a race car, but a drift car is the most fun thing I’ve ever driven. It’s kind of like driving a non-wing sprint car on a road course, if that makes any sense.I don’t know how I would feel about competing in it because it’s a judged sport, and there are all the politics. But just driving them, they are super fun.Drift cars are just super cool. If anybody has seen the parking lot at my shop, anytime there’s free time, the drift car is coming out.But do you think you’d ever like to compete in drifting?It’s definitely something I’ve thought about because my drift car has pretty much become a pro-level drift car because I can’t ever leave anything alone. But those guys are really good and like any motorsport, they put a lot into it. For me to think I could jump in and compete at even an amateur level and find success quickly enough to keep myself happy would probably be difficult.But I would love to do a little bit and at least drive more. Go drive with my friends, because I have a lot of friends in that world.The next driver is Ross Chastain. Do you have a question I can ask him?I want the origin story of smashing the watermelon. Did he do it growing up racing? Did he just start doing it when he got to NASCAR? What prompted wanting to do it? Did he practice doing it to see how hard he had to throw it? How long was there a watermelon on the truck before the watermelon really got smashed? What other times has he smashed a watermelon?That’s what I want to know.