NASCAR: Alex Bowman dominates at Fontana for 2nd career win

Alex Bowman dominated the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway to secure his first win of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season and the second of his career.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman left the field beyond the scope of his rearview mirror at Auto Club Speedway, dominating the Auto Club 400 to become the third different winner through the first three races of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Bowman started in third place and led 110 of the 200 laps around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) oval in Fontana, California en route to securing the second victory of his career and first since he won at Chicagoland Speedway last June, ending a 21-race win drought.

This victory is Chevrolet’s first since Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson won at Dover International Speedway last October, ending an eight-race win drought, and it is Hendrick Motorsports’ first since Chase Elliott won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval last September, ending a nine-race win drought.

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The driver of the #88 Chevrolet had over a 10-second lead in the late stages of the race, and he ended up crossing the finish line 8.904 seconds ahead of the #18 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch. Busch’s second place finish is his best finish of the season.

The Busch brothers both finished in the top three, as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch overcame a botched pit stop to rally for a third place finish in his #1 Chevrolet. Chevrolet secured three of the top four positions with Elliott in fourth in his #9 Chevrolet.

Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, who tried to roll the dice on strategy late, made his way up to fifth place in his #2 Ford on slightly newer tires than the rest of the field to secure Ford’s best finish of the race.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin finished in sixth place in his #11 Toyota ahead of hometown hero Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports in seventh in his #48 Chevrolet.

Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #10 Ford, #4 Ford and #20 Toyota, respectively.

Aside of Bowman, seven other drivers led the race. Keselowski and Johnson were the only other leaders who finished in the top 10.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, who started the race from the pole position, also led the race.

Bowman won stage one and Blaney, who led 54 of the other 90 laps, won stage two. But Blaney lost a potential second place finish when he had to come into the pits for new tires with just three laps remaining. He ended up finishing in 19th place, adding to the disappointment that has put a damper on what has been a red-hot start to the season from a speed standpoint.

Bowman finished in second place in stage two, so he finished one point shy of a perfect race.

The race was a relatively clean race, with only one caution flag period taking place for a reason other than the end of stages one or two. It happened when Bowyer had a tire go down, and he could ultimately not recover. He finished in a disappointing 23rd place in his #14 Ford.

Truex appeared to be in a good position for a solid top two result as well, but an issue with the left rear tire changer on his final pit stop relegated him to a 14th place finish in his #19 Toyota. The fact that this was his best finish of the season goes to show the disappointment that he has experienced to start the year.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Alex Bowman
2nd – Kyle Busch
3rd – Kurt Busch
4th – Chase Elliott
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Denny Hamlin
7th – Jimmie Johnson
8th – Aric Almirola
9th – Kevin Harvick
10th – Erik Jones
11th – Tyler Reddick
12th – Joey Logano
13th – Matt DiBenedetto
14th – Martin Truex Jr.
15th – William Byron
16th – Chris Buescher
17th – Ross Chastain
18th – Cole Custer
19th – Ryan Blaney
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – Kyle Larson
22nd – Michael McDowell
23rd – Clint Bowyer
24th – Austin Dillon
25th – John Hunter Nemechek
26th – Ty Dillon
27th – Bubba Wallace
28th – Daniel Suarez
29th – Corey LaJoie
30th – Ryan Preece
31st – J.J. Yeley
32nd – Brennan Poole
33rd – Joey Gase
34th – Garrett Smithley
35th – Quin Houff
36th – Reed Sorenson
37th – Timmy Hill
38th – Christopher Bell

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The next race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season is the FanShield 500, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 8. Fox is set to broadcast the race live from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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