CONCORD, N.C. — Alex Bowman believes Dale Earnhardt Jr. helped his racing career once already when he gave him a handful of Xfinity Series starts with JR Motorsports. Now sidelined for the year because of a concussion, Earnhardt also helped Bowman by recommending him as a replacement driver at Hendrick Motorsports.

“Dale Earnhardt Jr. saved my career two years ago when he gave me that chance in the Xfinity car,” Bowman said. “Without him saying, ‘Hey, put Alex in it,’ I don’t think that Hendrick Motorsports really would have thought of me (for Earnhardt’s replacement.)”

Earnhardt’s time on the sideline has given Bowman a shot to shine in spectacular equipment.

He was 10th at Chicago in Earnhardt’s car, and 14th two weeks ago at New Hampshire.

Now he’ll start a career-best second on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where rain and wind from Hurricane Matthew postponed the race originally scheduled for Saturday night. Bowman has no problems waiting an extra day.

He had no Sprint Cup plans whatsoever until Earnhardt was injured. Now he’s splitting time in Earnhardt’s car with Jeff Gordon. What was thought to be a one-race substitution has turned into 10 races with one of the top organizations in NASCAR.

Bowman has gone from the backside of the garage to the penthouse suite, where he has access to the best tools, technology and teammates.

“It’s very interesting how the garage works – I feel like if you are in one of the back 10 cars you are not really almost even looked at as a race-car driver until you do something that you are not supposed to do,” he said. “Like, if you run better than you are supposed to, you pass somebody you are not supposed to or you outqualify somebody you are not supposed to. Showing up to the racetrack in a Hendrick Motorsports car, I feel like I walk in and I’m viewed differently.”

Bowman, 23, readily admits he doesn’t know how long this opportunity will last.

There are no top Cup rides available, and the best rides in the Xfinity Series or Truck Series go to development drivers and usually require sponsorship dollars.

“Unfortunately the chips didn’t line up in my favor, so I don’t really know what’s going on,” he said. “These races left that we have may be the rest of my Cup career. You never really know what the future holds. Not having anything set in stone, the one thing I said I was going to do throughout all these races was to make the most of it and to have the most fun I possibly could.

“I’m not going to let the pressure kill me.”

FORMULA ONE: Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg put himself in the best possible position to widen his lead over rival and teammate Lewis Hamilton by securing pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Rosberg clocked a time of 1 minute, 30.647 seconds on his final lap at the Suzuka circuit to beat Hamilton by a hundredth of a second.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was a close third, followed by teammate Sebastian Vettel, who takes a three-place grid penalty from last weekend’s race and will start seventh.

With five races remaining, Rosberg holds a 23-point lead over Hamilton, who is seeking a third straight victory in Japan.