Bown was born in 1954 and grew up in a racing family; his father Dick owned the cars he drove in his earliest NASCAR appearances, and his younger brother Jim Bown also competed in NASCAR. Bown makes his home in Asheboro, North Carolina.
Bown made his NASCAR debut at just seventeen years old in 1972, entering the Winston Cup Series in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway. Driving his father's No. 27 Plymouth, he started 22nd but crashed out on lap 88, finishing 32nd. He made two more starts that year, returning to the same Riverside circuit with his best finish of fourteenth.
In 1973 and 1974, Bown continued to contest the California races on the Winston Cup schedule — the pair of Riverside events and a round at Ontario Motor Speedway — driving his father's Dodge. He posted a top-ten finish at the Tuborg 400 at Riverside in 1973, his first career top ten in the Cup series.
In 1976, Bown began competing in the NASCAR Winston West Series, driving for Gerald Cracker. That season produced his first regional championship, and he was named Most Popular Driver of the Year in the series the following year. The Winston West title was his first major NASCAR championship and established him as a contender in the national series.
In 1979, Bown drove Jim Testa's No. 68 Buick and Chevrolet in seven Winston Cup events, scoring a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a sixth-place finish in the Firecracker 400 — results that remained among the strongest of his Cup career. He contested eleven more races across the following two years for various owners without reaching the top ten again.
After a hiatus from NASCAR, Bown returned in 1986 to compete in the Busch Series. His first start that year ended in a crash, but he won at Oxford Plains Speedway later in the season for his maiden Busch Series victory.
Bown ran a partial 1989 Busch campaign, recording five top-fives and twelve top-tens and finishing ninth in the championship standings — enough to signal he was ready to contend. The 1990 season proved to be the defining year of his career. Driving the No. 63 Pontiac, Bown won six races and claimed four pole positions, amassing thirteen top-five finishes. He took the Busch Series championship over Jimmy Hensley by two hundred points. In 1991, he won three more races and earned four poles before finishing fourth in the standings.
His Busch results declined thereafter. In 1993 he recorded five top-fives and thirteen top-tens, finishing fourth in the standings, and took his final career Busch race win at Martinsville Speedway and his final pole at Richmond International Raceway.
In 1994, Bown moved to the Winston Cup Series full-time, driving the No. 12 Ford Thunderbird for Bobby Allison. He won the pole for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, setting a new track record. His Cup season was cut short when he was seriously injured in a crash at Pocono Raceway, sidelining him for the rest of the year.
Bown returned to competition in 1995, running a combination of Busch events and nine Cup starts in the No. 32 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Active Motorsports. His best Cup finish that year was 21st at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He made additional Cup appearances in 1996 for Sadler Brothers Racing.
In 1997, Bown transitioned to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Roush Racing, driving the No. 99 Ford F-150. Despite not winning, he collected four top-fives and finished ninth in the standings. In 1998 he qualified on pole at the season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway, but was released from Roush mid-season as the team downsized. He finished 1998 driving for CSG Motorsports and then an independent entry.
In 1999, Bown returned to drive for Hensley in their No. 63 Chevrolet. He posted a seventh-place finish at Charlotte, but was released from the team partway through the season and soon retired from competitive racing.
Chuck Bown was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2009 alongside Wayne Spears, Doug George, and Rick Carelli, in recognition of his achievements in western-region NASCAR competition. His 1990 Busch Series championship stands as the pinnacle of a career that demonstrated consistent speed and durability across stock car racing's major divisions over more than two decades.