NASCAR Cup Series: Alex Bowman earns first win at 2019 Camping World 400

Alex Bowman earned the first victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career by holding off Kyle Larson to win the Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman entered the 36-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season’s 17th race, the Camping World 400, at Chicagoland Speedway having competed in 133 races and record a career-high finish of second place on three occasions, all earlier this season.

Bowman is now the most recent first-time winner in the Cup Series, as he drove his #88 Chevrolet to victory lane for the first time in his career after a hard-fought battle with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, who finished in a season-high second place in this race for the second consecutive season in his #42 Chevrolet.

Bowman started this 267-lap race, which featured a 198-minute weather delay, around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Chicagoland Speedway oval in Joliet, Illinois in eighth place, and he won it by 0.546 seconds over Larson in second after the two drivers exchanged the lead twice and made contact over the race’s final few laps.

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Team Penske’s Joey Logano was the highest finishing Ford driver of the race. He finished in third place in his #22 Ford. Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson and Team Penske’s Joey Logano rounded out the top five by finishing in a season-high fourth and fifth in their #48 Chevrolet and #22 Ford, respectively.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney finished in sixth place in his #12 Ford to give Team Penske three of the top six positions after what was not particularly a great race for the three-car Ford team. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones was the highest finishing Toyota driver of the race. He finished in seventh in his #20 Toyota.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, who started the race from the pole position, rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #24 Chevrolet, #19 Toyota and #3 Chevrolet, respectively.

This race was dominated by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who led a race-high 132 laps in his #4 Ford. However, he hit the wall during the third and final stage of the race, and he could only recover for a 14th place finish. He is still searching for his first victory of the 2019 season.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who fell two laps down early, worked his way into second place in the third and final stage of the race, but an issue with the hose on a late pit stop dropped him 18 positions down to 20th. He only managed to recover to finish in 11th place in his #9 Chevrolet.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing had a disastrous race, resulting in a 22nd place finish, his second worst finish of the season. He hit the wall early, fell one lap down, got the free pass and then cut a tire after making contact with Logano, causing him to fall one lap down again. Later in the race, he had to pit when smoke filled the cockpit of his #18 Toyota.

This race featured a total of 23 lead changes among 13 leaders. Aside of Harvick, 12 drivers led at least one lap of the race, most notably Bowman. The driver of the #88 Chevrolet ironically led 88 laps en route to securing the first victory of his Cup Series career.

The other 11 drivers who led this race were Larson, Johnson, Blaney, Jones, Dillon, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman, Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez. Hamlin won stage one while Harvick won stage two.

This race also featured a total of five caution flag periods, of which three took place as a result of on-track incidents and two took place as a result of the usual endings of stages one and two. Of the 38 drivers who started this race, 36 finished it, and of these 36 drivers, 17 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Alex Bowman
2nd – Kyle Larson
3rd – Joey Logano
4th – Jimmie Johnson
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Ryan Blaney
7th – Erik Jones
8th – William Byron
9th – Martin Truex Jr.
10th – Austin Dillon
11th – Chase Elliott
12th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Kevin Harvick
15th – Denny Hamlin
16th – Aric Almirola
17th – Ryan Newman
18th – Chris Buescher
19th – Daniel Hemric
20th – Michael McDowell
21st – Paul Menard
22nd – Kyle Busch
23rd – David Ragan
24th – Daniel Suarez
25th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
26th – Ross Chastain
27th – Matt DiBenedetto
28th – Ryan Preece
29th – Matt Tifft
30th – Corey LaJoie
31st – Landon Cassill
32nd – Bayley Currey
33rd – Josh Bilicki
34th – Reed Sorenson
35th – Ty Dillon
36th – B.J. McLeod
37th – Clint Bowyer
38th – Quin Houff

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The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is the next race on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and it is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 6. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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