Alex Bowman Outduels Teammate Kyle Larson for Las Vegas Win
All eyes were on Hendrick Motorsports this week after Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott had their run-in in the closing laps of the race last weekend at Fontana. Larson found himself in a similar position in the closing laps today at Las Vegas, but this time his teammate came away with the win.
After a late caution set up an overtime finish, Larson and teammates Alex Bowman opted to take just two tires on pit lane, while the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr took four. The move paid off, as Bowman was able to fend off the Toyotas, and his teammate to score his first victory of the season.
Bowman earned his seventh career win and the 282nd for Rick Hendrick’s team. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet was one of 15 different leaders on Sunday, who accounted for 23 lead changes throughout the afternoon. Larson came up just one spot short of his second straight win, but just didn't get enough on the final lap to outduel his teammate.
Leading just 16 laps in the race, Bowman managed to win the first and final stages of the race. “I just can’t thank Ally and Chevrolet, everybody from Hendrick Motorsports enough,” Bowman said. “This thing was so fast all day; I just never really had the track position we needed to show it. But man, what a call by Greg Ives and the guys to take two there. Obviously, it paid off.”
“Racing Kyle is always fun. Got to race him for a couple wins, and we’ve always raced each other super clean and super respectfully. I just can’t say enough about these guys. It’s been a pretty awful start to the year, so to come out here and get a win on a last restart deal like that is pretty special.”
All three races this season have come down to teammates battling for the win in the final laps of the race.
Finishing just behind Bowman and Larson in 3rd was Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse Racing driver had a fantastic race, which included a Stage 2 win. Chastain had pace all afternoon and was clean on the track and on pit road. This was just the fourth career top-five finish for Chastain, who led 83 laps in today's race.
Kyle Busch had a roller coaster weekend, leading 49 laps and coming away with a 4th place finish in his No. 18 Toyota. It began with a crash just minutes into practice, which resulted in starting at the rear of the field in a backup car. He had an issue early in the race when his shifter was able to go forward but not backward. The JGR driver had a bad vibration, then a spin on the track, and made contact with the wall later in the race.
Even with all of that, Busch managed to find himself in prime position in the final 20 laps of the race. It appeared as though the winner would be decided between he and Truex until a late caution changed the entire complexion of the race. The two Gibbs drivers elected to go with four-tire stops, but were not able to get back out in front. Truex ended up finishing in 8th place.
“A true testament to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Busch. “I really appreciate the 18 guys, my guys, but also the 11, 19 and 20, all of them coming over and pitching in and everybody who had a hand to make us go today. So, really appreciate that. It was good, fast at the end, and was trying to just do what I could to hold the lead with Truex. Felt like I inched away finally, and we were coming but wasn’t meant to be.”
William Byron rounded out the top five on Sunday and Elliott came home in 9th in what was a fantastic day for Mr Hendrick. Aric Almirola was the lone Ford driver in the top 11, leading the way for Stewart Haas Racing. Tyler Reddick had a wild afternoon after starting in the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments. The Richard Childress Racing driver spun through the grass early in the race but still rebounded nicely with a 7th place finish.
After starting the race from pole, Christopher Bell capped the list of top-ten finishers. The driver of the No. 20 Toyota led 32 laps but a spin late in Stage 2 set him back. Other drivers with solid results were Austin Dillon in 11th, Kevin Harvick in 12th, Kurt Busch in 13th, Joey Logano in 14th, and Corey LaJoie finishing 15th. Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 20 finishers.
Brad Keselowski had a rough outing after losing control of his No. 6 Ford early in the race. He was able to make repairs and finish 24th but his spin collected Ryan Blaney, who was unable to continue and finished 36th. Erik Jones brought out the final caution when he spun exiting Turn 4, and had an incredible close call with Bubba Wallace. They finished 31st and 25th respectively.
Denny Hamlin led 31 laps but his day went south early after losing power steering in his Toyota. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx machine spun coming off pit road and shifted the wrong way which caused his car to stall off Turn 2. All of the gears were broken in the transmission, putting an end to his race. “We broke the transaxle. The car won’t go, we don’t have any gears,” Hamlin said. “Just unfortunate, our car was really, really fast. The team did a phenomenal job, just had a couple mistakes that bit us.”
The three-race west coast swing comes to an end next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Coverage of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 begins at 3:30 PM ET on Sunday.
