Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
For the first time in his brief history being a professional NASCAR racer, 26-year-old Alex Bowman held off a late push by Kyle Larson to claim his first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win by .546-seconds.
(Photo by Mark Gregory)
After being passed by Larson, Bowman reclaimed the lead in the final six laps off the race to hold onto the Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I’m pretty speechless. I feel like I kind of just want to get home and enjoy it with my friends,” Bowman said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted my whole life, and now that we won one race, I don’t really know what to do with myself a little bit.
Bowman, driver of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsport, didn’t let Mother Nature dictate the outcome of his performance, with a weather delay that lasted for more than three hours.
With three consecutive second-place finishes at Talladega, Dover and Kansas, Bowman was determined to get to Gatorade Victor Lane.
“I was kind of tired of running second. I felt like we had a car capable of winning. We got held up there for a little while. I got super frustrated with some lap cars just not helping us, which they don’t have to help us, but that’s just kind of part of it,” Bowman said. “We lost a big lead there, and I got pretty frustrated, burned the right rear tire off trying to get around some lap cars. And when Kyle got around me, I was going to tear the right side off it, try and run the fence, or get back around him. (I am) so glad we kept it out of the fence, and I was kind of surprised that he left the top open the way he did and left clean air up there, and surprised that it worked. I guess I should have moved up there earlier. But I didn’t want to run second again.”
“(Chicagoland) I think it’s similar to Kansas. Obviously it’s not repaved like Kansas is, but it’s a very similar racetrack. And we brought the same race car. So obviously we were really strong there. Probably should have won that race, I gave that one away. We’ve just been so strong at this type of racetrack. I think after Kansas, we run second, I’m super bummed on that one. My family is from there, and I really wanted to win that race. I was pretty upset with myself, and I got back to the lounge, and one of our engineers, Tim, he’s like, Just wait until Chicago, we’re going to go haul ass there, and we were able to do that.”
The win locks up Bowman’s spot in the NASCAR playoffs, which start September 15 at the South Point 400 in Las Vegas. The security will let Bowman focus more on racing for another win, rather than racing for points.
“I can stop watching the points race every week and worrying about trying to be in. Obviously we’re pretty strong in points, but we weren’t locked in by any means,” he said. “Doing that, I feel like we can just be more aggressive, take more chances. I feel like I can be more aggressive on green flag pit stops and just little things like that that sometimes if you overstep, it completely ruins your day and costs you a ton of points. We don’t have to worry as much about that and I can work on getting 10 tenths out of it so when the playoffs come, I know how hard I can push or can’t push.
Bowman’s run to victory lane has not been easy.
In February 2010, Bowman had a major scare when he was injured while being involved in an accident during a USAC race, suffering a fractured clavicle and rib.
He had competed full-time at the Cup level in 2014-15 and in 2016 was hired by Hendrick in 2016 to drive Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 while Junior rehabbed from injury.
With the return of Junior in 2017, Bowman sat out a year of full-time Cup competition, he was then chosen by Hendrick to replace the NASCAR icon a year ago following his retirement.
“The beginning of this year was rough. I feel like people question me a lot, and if I deserve to be here or not. Just based on the fact that I don’t have a big resume to fall back on,” Bowman said. “I’ve had a lot of great opportunities throughout my career, but when we went stock car racing, those opportunities got pretty slim. Just getting a Cup win is something that kind of relaxes me in the sense that I feel like I can finally say I deserve to be here. But there were definitely sometimes I was very worried about it. It made going to the racetrack not a lot of fun. But glad we’re having a lot of fun now.”
After finally getting the proverbial monkey off his back, Bowman said he is going to celebrate at his home with his friends in North Carolina, and looks to keep on the winning track again next week at the Daytona 500.
“For me, it’s really about enjoying this with my group of friends back home, kind of like I said. Hopefully the whole team will want to come over. My house is right by the airport, so hopefully they’ll stop by on their way home and we’ll have a good time,” Bowman said. “I’m going to throw [crew chief] Greg [Ives] in the pool — you’re driving home.”
Second, again
For the second year in a row, Kyle Larson finished on the losing end of a dramatic finish at Chicagoland Speedway.
Bowman led for a majority of the third stage of the race, but Larson was able to get past him with 10 laps to go. Not to be outgunned again, Alex Bowman used the high side to get the lead back four laps later and held on to get his Hendrick Motorsport, No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro to Gatorade Victory Lane.
“I could see him struggle when I was getting to him, and when I got by him, I’m like, all right, good, he’s going to be in my dirty air and get loose,” Larson said. “He could get big runs on me down the straightaways, and I think that allowed him to get that run into one and he got to the main side and I got tight, I don’t know if him getting air on my spoiler or something got him tight, but I had to kind of breathe it a little bit, and then we side drafted on the backstretch.
“(I) was actually surprised I even got to him. I thought when he came out about the same distance off pit road in front of me, I thought he was just going to check out. But like I said, he was struggling, and we were able to get to him and get by him, but he did a good job. He did a good job regrouping and figuring out how to make his car drive better and got the win. Cool to see him get the win there. Would have liked for him to have to wait another week or so, but happy for him. He’s an open-wheel guy, so cool to see.”
Riding the storm out
After only 11 laps in the books, the race was halted because of lightning in the area. That cell produced heavy winds and rain and the race was more than three hours delayed. When the green flag dropped again, the air temperature had dropped from 92 degrees at the original start of the race to 72 degrees on the restart.
The cooler temperatures, however, did not hurt Bowman.
“I thought it was going to free up quite a bit more than it did. It really didn’t change the handling of our racecar very much. Maybe we lost some rear grip as the night came. (It) didn’t really gain a ton of front grip until we made some changes,” Bowman said. “So, I feel like we started the raceway too tight, but also, kind of once the sun went down, didn’t have a lot to lean on with the right rear. And Greg was able to make some really good calls on what to change with the racecar because I kind of needed both. And we were definitely too loose there at the end, but we were able to make it work.”
Stage set
Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin finished in 14th and 15th, respectively in the race, but each earned a playoff point by winning a state.
Hamlin claimed the first stage of the race and Harvick the second.
Hamlin twice had NASCAR infractions sending him to the tail end of the field. One on lap 105 when he had a tire infraction and again on lap 163 when the team had too many members in contact with the pit service area.
Harvick led a race-best 132 laps, but hit the outside wall late in the race.
Celebrity status
There were several celebrities out taking in the race — at least before the rain.
Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney took a ride around the track with NASCAR legend Jeff Burton in the ‘Toyota Joyride With Jeff.’
Also watching the race was Benet Academy graduate Frank Kaminsky, a member of the Charlotte Hornets. Kaminsky was in the pits with the No. 24 team of William Byron.
Party in the pits
It may not have been a parking lot party, but South Carolina native Lee Brice was on hand to play a prerace concert for the Chicagoland Speedway faithful.
Brice played his hit tunes, including “Rumor,” which is working its way up the Billboard Country Charts.
Mark Gregory contributed.