KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Alex Bowman was so close he could taste it.
In the closing laps of Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway, it appeared that Bowman would answer his winning call after finishing second the last two races at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover International Speedway – but Bowman’s clean air was quickly filled with lapped traffic allowing Brad Keselowski to close in and swipe the lead away from the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
A late race caution inside the final five laps of the race offered an opportunity for a rematch against Keselowski – but a quick escape from the Team Penske driver in NASCAR overtime left Bowman wishing what could have been and the runner-up the third straight race.
“We had a really good car, I just made bad decisions going through lap traffic on lane choice. They stayed where I needed to run,” said Bowman. “I should have gone high and I shouldn’t have
picked the middle like I did. I just had to lift and let the 2 and the 20 drive right around me. I’m pretty frustrated with myself. There was no way around that, that was a bad mistake on my part.
“We’ll go home and get them next week.”
For the third straight race, Bowman also led laps in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition leading 63 laps in all and despite the dominant showing from the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet driver, Bowman will have to wait until the May 26 running of the Coca-Cola 600 for an opportunity to collect a points-paying victory.
“It’s absolutely a good day for everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” added Bowman. “We all had really competitive cars and we really appreciate everyone’s hard work to continue to build our cars and continue to get better like we have. It was a really good day.
“My family is from here, so it would have been pretty cool. Probably the two closest times I have been to winning was my hometown and my dad’s hometown, so it’s just frustrating. We will get one soon.”
Keselowski who scored his third win of 2019 says Bowman will win in Cup competition but believed his fresher tires and Bowman getting tight in traffic in the closing laps opened the door for him to steal the thunder from “Bowman the Showman.”
After failing to earn a top-10 finish in the first nine races of the year, Bowman is on a streak of three consecutive second-place finishes and has maneuvered from 15th to 12th in the championship standings after 12 races and safely inside the Playoff bubble.
Overall, it was a solid night for Hendrick Motorsports. Bowman’s teammate Chase Elliott who won at Talladega finished fourth, while Jimmie Johnson made a huge recovery in Stage 3 to finish a season-high sixth and William Byron who showed speed early faltered to an untimely caution and finished 20th.
Now, Bowman returns to Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway hoping for an opportunity to put himself into the All-Star race – while making his seventh start in NASCAR’s longest race on Memorial Day weekend where his best finish at the 1.5-mile track was ninth last May.
Should the 26-year-old find himself in contention for the win at Charlotte, he knows what action he’ll take to ensure victory.
“Just stick to what you know and don’t overthink it,” sounded Bowman. “When you’re out there running wide open, it’s all about lane choice.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
