Alex Bowman and his Hendrick Motorsports team turned a car that was on the fringe of the top 10 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway into another top-three result. A second consecutive top three, at that.

A week ago, Alex Bowman went through a head-on crash he said registered over 50G. He was evaluated for back pain during the week and Hendrick Motorsports put Anthony Alfredo on standby in Mexico City if Bowman was unable to compete in the inaugural Cup Series race.Bowman did run Sunday’s...