KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A dominating performance for Alex Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports came up short in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Bowman qualified his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE third on Saturday afternoon, but for the moment the green flag dropped Bowman showcased his potential to contend for his second NASCAR Cup Series win of the season.
Despite finishing 17th in Stage 1, Bowman would drive back through the field and take control of the race on Lap 121 and lead a whopping 79 laps, including picking up the win in Stage 2.
In the early running of Stage 3, Bowman continued to pace the field but the speed the team carried early in the race fell off with Bowman losing the lead to Bubba Wallace on Lap 199.
Pit strategy sent Bowman back into the top spot for two laps before making his scheduled final green flag pit stop in hopes the adjustments from crew chief Greg Ives would be enough to chase down the Toyotas who roared to life in Stage 3.
Their attempt, however, would come up short with Bowman unable to find the balance and speed to chase down Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell and find his way to Victory Lane and propel his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team into the Round of 12 in this year’s Cup Series Playoffs.
“We had a good day for our No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1,” said Bowman after the race. “Proud of all of my guys. We had a good weekend – Obviously, we didn’t want to throw those stage points away in stage one like we did, but we overcame that in a hurry.”
Bowman explained that the deeper that the long runs went, his car fell off, especially the last 15 laps in a run.
“I’m just proud of Greg (Ives) and the guys,” added Bowman. “We had a great racecar. The last 15-laps of a run is where we would fall off and get beat, but I’m still proud of all of the guys.
“We ended up with a solid points day.”
With a top-10 finish last weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to open the Playoffs and a much-welcomed top-five result in the Midwest, Bowman heads to the first Playoff cutoff race of the season next weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway 30 points above the cutline.
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