NASCAR: Alex Bowman wins Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas on overtime
Erik Jones hit the wall and spun the #43 Chevy with 3 laps to go setting up a rush to the pits and a green-white-checkered finish for the win in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Rick Hendrick Chevys of Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron got out of the pits first by taking just 2 tires instead of 4 for the other drivers. They had 42 laps on their inside tires and the question was whether one of them could keep the lead for the two lap shootout.
The answer was yes!
Alex Bowman outdueled Kyle Larson to win after Kyle Busch appeared to have the race won.
Larson was the runner-up, 0.178 seconds behind at the finish in the No. 5 Hendrick Chevy. Larson, bidding for his second straight Cup Series win, drew a speeding penalty in his next-to-last pit stop but rallied to contend late.
“This thing was so fast all day,’’ said Bowman, who led 16 of the 274 laps. “Just never really had the track position to show it. But man, what a call by [crew chief] Greg Ives and the guys to take two [tires] there and obviously it paid off.
“Racing Kyle [Larson] is always fun and I’ve got to race him for a couple wins and we always race each other super clean and super respectively. Just can’t say enough about these guys.
“It’s been a pretty awful start to the year so to come out here and get a win on a last re-start, I feel like that’s pretty special.’’
The runner-up finish for Larson, who led three times for 37 laps on the day, was good enough to propel him into the championship lead for the first time this season. He holds a six-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who finished eighth on Sunday.
Ross Chastain led a career-best 83 laps and placed third with Kyle Busch fourth and William Byron finishing out the top five.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola earned his third consecutive Top-10 with a sixth place finish. Tyler Reddick, Truex, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and polesitter, Christopher Bell completed the Top 10.
Busch endured an eventful weekend, which started with a crash in Saturday practice that forced his team to prep a reserve No. 18 car. Sunday, he started from the back of the 37-car field and was caught in a Lap 42 tangle, recovering from a partial spin in a yellow flag that also involved Austin Dillon, Daniel Hemric and Justin Haley. He battled through a balky shifter early, then added some drama with Chase Briscoe after close racing at the end of Stage 1. Busch led until a late-race crash involving Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace forced the race seven laps past its scheduled 267-lap distance.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola earned his third consecutive Top-10 with a sixth place finish. Tyler Reddick, Truex, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and polesitter, Christopher Bell completed the Top 10.
The race was slowed by 12 caution periods, and the other contenders were not immune to the incidents. Pole-starter and Busch teammate Christopher Bell led 32 laps but a Stage 2 spin hurt his chances; he rallied to place 10th.
The race featuring the 1.5-mile debut of the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen cars produced 23 lead changes among 15 different drivers with Bowman (Stage 1) and Chastain (Stage 2) winning the stages.
“We were like 30th in first practice, right off the truck and we slowly built up to it and if we can keep doing that and have cars like this, obviously we can compete,’’ Chastain said.
Select Quotes
Q. Alex Bowman, hung there in the top 10 all race long. That car was coming on strong the last 50 laps. What got it done? How about that strategy to take right sides to finish your day, up against your teammate Kyle Larson, by the way?
ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I just can’t thank ally and Chevrolet, everybody from Hendrick Motorsports enough. This thing was so fast all day. Never had the track position we needed to show it.
Man, what a call by Greg Ives and the guys to take two there. Obviously it paid off. Racing Kyle is always fun. Got to race him for a couple wins. We’ve always raced each other super clean and super respectfully.
Just can’t say enough about these guys. It’s been a pretty awful start to the year, so to come out here and get a win on a last restart deal is pretty special.
Doing everything right today, Kyle Busch. Tough situation at the end of the race there. Based on where this team was yesterday, the work that had to go into it, has to be a good day nonetheless.
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, true testament to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. Really appreciate the 18 guys, my guys. But also the 11, 19, and 20, all them, for coming over, pitching in. Everybody had a hand in being able to make us go today. Really appreciate that. Great Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry TRD today. Was good, fast there at the end.
Trying to just do what I could to hold the lead there with Truex. Felt like I inched away finally, we were coming to the white. I don’t know what it was. But anyways, wasn’t meant to be, not our day, see you next week
Race Results
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | BEHIND | LAPS |
| 1 | 48 | Alex Bowman |  |
— | 274 |
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Larson | |
0.178 | 274 |
| 3 | 1 | Ross Chastain | |
0.264 | 274 |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch |  |
0.271 | 274 |
| 5 | 24 | William Byron | |
0.419 | 274 |
| 6 | 10 | Aric Almirola |  |
0.829 | 274 |
| 7 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | |
0.868 | 274 |
| 8 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | |
0.887 | 274 |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | |
0.922 | 274 |
| 10 | 20 | Christopher Bell | |
0.939 | 274 |
| 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | |
1.119 | 274 |
| 12 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | |
1.135 | 274 |
| 13 | 45 | Kurt Busch | |
1.247 | 274 |
| 14 | 22 | Joey Logano | |
1.452 | 274 |
| 15 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | |
1.538 | 274 |
| 16 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | |
1.817 | 274 |
| 17 | 31 | Justin Haley | |
1.831 | 274 |
| 18 | 17 | Chris Buescher | |
5.219 | 274 |
| 19 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | |
6.032 | 274 |
| 20 | 42 | Ty Dillon | |
7.060 | 274 |
| 21 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | |
7.079 | 274 |
| 22 | 16 | Daniel Hemric(i) | |
7.141 | 274 |
| 23 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | |
7.534 | 274 |
| 24 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | |
-1 | 273 |
| 25 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | |
-1 | 273 |
| 26 | 51 | Cody Ware | |
-1 | 273 |
| 27 | 34 | Michael McDowell | |
-1 | 273 |
| 28 | 78 | BJ McLeod | |
-2 | 272 |
| 29 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | |
-3 | 271 |
| 30 | 15 | Garrett Smithley | |
-7 | 267 |
| 31 | 43 | Erik Jones | |
-10 | 264 |
| 32 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | |
-55 | 219 |
| 33 | 41 | Cole Custer | |
-103 | 171 |
| 34 | 44 | * Greg Biffle | |
-126 | 148 |
| 35 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | |
-139 | 135 |
| 36 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | |
-170 | 104 |
| 37 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | |
-182 | 92 |
(i) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME
Average Speed of Race Winner: 117.522 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 29 Mins, 50 Secs. Margin of Victory: .178 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 60 laps.
Lead Changes: 23 among 15 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Bell 1-32;R. Blaney 33-42;A. Bowman 43-49;D. Hamlin 50-65;K. Busch 66-69;W. Byron 70-77;A. Bowman 78-83;M. McDowell 84-87;B. Keselowski 88-90;D. Hamlin 91-105;K. Busch 106-112;R. Chastain 113-136;*. Biffle 137;K. Larson 138-159;R. Chastain 160-217;K. Larson 218;R. Stenhouse Jr. 219-222;T. Dillon 223;K. Busch 224-225;R. Chastain 226;K. Busch 227-266;M. Truex Jr. 267;K. Larson 268-271;A. Bowman 272-274.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ross Chastain 3 times for 83 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 49 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 32 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 31 laps; Kyle Larson 3 times for 27 laps; Alex Bowman 3 times for 16 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 10 laps; William Byron 1 time for 8 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 4 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 4 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 4 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 3 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 1 lap; * Greg Biffle 1 time for 1 lap; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 48,24,1,11,9,5,12,14,18,20
Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,9,5,24,18,19,22,4,11,23