Bowman's first ever start at Talladega

Alex Bowman will pilot RAB Racing Chassis No. 051 at Talladega Superspeedway. This chassis is making its Nationwide Series debut this weekend in the Aaron's 312.

SchoolTipline.com returns as primary sponsor of the No. 99 Toyota Camry. SchoolTipline.com was founded as a platform to give students, parents, and faculty alike an outlet to report bullying, weapon possession, drug use, etc. in schools.

Alex Bowman

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

This system empowers students to make positive changes, so schools can return to a safe place of learning.

Though this will be Bowman's first ever Nationwide Series start at Talladega Superspeedway, he has raced here before in ARCA Racing Series competition.

In four NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, RAB Racing entries have earned one top-10 finish and have completed 470 of the 486 (96.7 percent) laps contested in those events. Additionally, in three of those races, RAB Racing entries have led laps.

In five NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at the famed Alabama superspeedway, Rice has posted one top-10 and three top-20 finishes. Additionally, Rice has accumulated six laps led.

Following his 27th place finish at Richmond International Raceway, Bowman sits in the second position of the Rookie of the Year point standings, only four points behind Kyle Larson.

As we head into the eighth race of the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, Bowman currently occupies the eleventh position in the drivers' point standings, only 24 points out of the top five.

A mere four points separates Bowman from the top 10. Owner Robby Benton moved into the 14th position of the Nationwide Series owners' point standings.

Alex Bowman: "I'm super excited to get back to a big track and utilize the two car tandem again at Talladega. Daytona was the first time I'd ever drafted using the two car tandem and it was a lot of fun, and absolutely hair raising the entire race.

We lead some laps and finished 3rd because of the RAB Racing cars and Joe Gibbs Engines, and Talladega will be no different, we just need to avoid any and all trouble and we'll have another top 5 finish.

Also really looking forward to visiting Charles R. Drew Middle School on Thursday morning with the folks at SchoolTipline.com, and auctioning off a couple of pieces of my car at Race Fever to benefit the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind on Friday night."

Chris Rice: "I'm really looking forward to Talladega, our super speedway program is one of the strongest in the field and its all thanks to the support we receive from Toyota. We build great cars here at RAB Racing and have really fast engines from Joe Gibbs Racing, couple that with a wild child like Alex Bowman and it's a recipe to run upfront all day long just like we did in Daytona."

RAB Racing