NASCAR: Alex Bowman ends Hendrick misery at Richmond
By Asher Fair
An unlikely NASCAR Cup Series victory for Alex Bowman at Richmond Raceway ended a long, long drought for Hendrick Motorsports at the 0.75-mile oval.
As Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin continues to dominate NASCAR Cup Series races and lead hundreds upon hundreds of laps, new winners not named Denny Hamlin continue to pile up.
This time, the new winner was Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman. Bowman, who hadn’t won a race since he won at Auto Club Speedway last March, secured an unlikely victory at Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon after passing both Team Penske’s Joey Logano for second place and Hamlin for the lead following a late restart.
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With 12 laps to go in the 400-lap Toyota Owners 400 around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) oval in Richmond, Virginia, Bowman restarted in third place.
He made quick work of Logano before passing Hamlin for the lead two laps later, and he never looked back.
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A race that saw 20 lead changes, the most at Richmond Raceway since September 2016, saw Bowman win by just 0.381 seconds over Hamlin in a season-best second place. Bowman led only one time for 10 laps after overcoming a pit lane penalty for an uncontrolled tire.
In taking the checkered flag and putting the #48 Chevrolet back in victory lane for the first time since seven-time champion and 83-time race winner Jimmie Johnson won for the final time at Dover International Speedway in June 2017, he also ended a lengthy drought for Hendrick Motorsports at Richmond Raceway.
Chevrolet hadn’t won a race at Richmond Raceway since Kyle Larson, then driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, won in September 2017, and Hendrick Motorsports hadn’t won a race there since nine years before that in September 2008 when Johnson won for the third time in four starts at the track.
Bowman’s surprise win ended a 23-race win drought for Rick Hendrick’s team at the track and gave them three wins through nine races this year, tying them with Joe Gibbs Racing for the most.
Interestingly, based on a trend among the three manufacturers — and for Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports specifically — one of Mr. H’s drivers was due to find victory lane this weekend.
That trend, which is that each manufacturer wins one race before the order reverses, also points to Hendrick Motorsports winning next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway in the GEICO 500, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 25.
Ford’s three wins so far this season have come in races one, six and seven while Toyota’s have come in races two, five and eight and Chevrolet’s have come in three, four and nine.
Reigning champion Chase Elliott, who earned the team their most recent victory at the track back in April 2019, is the only one of the team’s four drivers who hasn’t yet won a race this year.
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William Byron secured them their first win in February at Homestead-Miami Speedway before Kyle Larson secured them their second in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports are the only team to have three different drivers find victory lane so far in 2021.