Alex Bowman Dominates In California To Capture Second NASCAR Cup Series Win
by Camille Jones March 1, 2020 0 commentsFONTANA, Calif. — Alex Bowman put on a dominant performance on his way to Victory Lane in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
On Sunday, Bowman found redemption from last week’s late-race caution that ended his hopes of taking home a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 26-year-old started the race in Fontana, California in the third position, and he quickly made his way to the lead by lap 11. Throughout the afternoon, Bowman went on to win Stage 1 and lead a race high of 110 laps. The win marks Bowman’s second behind the wheel of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Cincinnati Chevrolet. He earned his first-career series victory last year during Chicagoland Speedway’s June event.
“I mean, the first one, that was a really enjoyable experience, and then we sucked for six months,” said Bowman. “You know, we started this year so strong. I feel like I’ve got a lot on my side that I’m doing better. My life is kind of a lot more organized than it was back then, and Greg (Ives, crew chief) and all the guys, they’re just on point. We’ve unloaded the last two weeks, I don’t think we’ve had to change the race car from how it came off the truck. That makes my job a heck of a lot easier. I’m just so proud of this team, Hendrick Motorsports, Hendrick horsepower under the hood, the whole shop back home. They work their butts off. We put a lot of effort into this new car, and it’s obviously working well.”
Kyle Busch finished in the second position on Sunday, earning his first top-10 finish of the season. The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota had to battle his way to the front after starting the race near mid-pack.
“Yeah, we have a lot of work to do,” said Kyle Busch. “Guys did a great job here, though, just trying to work on it and trying to make everything that we could out of it all day long, all weekend long. The Interstate Batteries Camry wasn’t a second‑place car, but thankfully we got a good finish out of here, we tried to get some points.”
Kurt Busch claimed the third finishing position in the Auto Club 400. Busch had a strong Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet all weekend long as he started the race in fourth and ran near towards the front of the pack all race long.
“All weekend the car just had a good vibe to it, the way it unloaded and the way we made small changes on our Monster Energy Chevy, I was really proud of this effort,” Busch said. “To race and to do different things in the draft and to be able to gain speed with cars on the straightaway and then once you get all by yourself you actually lose speed, it’s a whole type of different racing, and I’m glad that I had a good car to do it all with, and just thanks to my guys. I messed up on a pit cue, but to have a third‑place run right here in Monster Energy’s back yard, this was a solid run for our Chevy.
Chase Elliott earned the fourth spot, followed by Brad Keselowski in fifth. Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10 in the finishing order.
There was only one caution for an incident in the race. On lap 94, Clint Bowyer’s Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford suffered a tire failure, bringing out the caution and sending him to pit road.
The competitors of the NASCAR Cup Series will hit the track for the final race of the ‘West Coast Swing’ next weekend at Phoenix Raceway for the FanShield 500. Live coverage will be found on FOX and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images
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