March 6, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Alex Bowman hits the jackpot with late-race caution at Las Vegas

Alex Bowman found Lady Luck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

A two-tire pit stop vaulted the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet to the front row for the final restart alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.

While the top lane was preferred throughout the race, Bowman was relentless on the bottom throughout the green-white-checkered finish and pulled away from Larson by .178-seconds at the line.

“This thing was so fast all day,” Bowman said. “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.”

Ross Chastain, who won his first career stage enjoyed a race and career-high 83 laps at the point, finished third. In his previous 117 Cup starts combined, Chastain led 75 laps.

“Yeah, it's dream come true,” Chastain said. “This is what all the work is for. This is why we train and try to build our whole lives and careers once we realize we can race at this level, is to have race cars like that. I couldn’t be more proud of Trackhouse, and thankful for Justin Marks (team owner) and Chevrolet.

After going to a backup car following a practice crash on Saturday, Kyle Busch rallied for a fourth-place finish. William Byron, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and polesitter Christopher Bell rounded out the top 10.

The Pennzoil 400 could have just as easily been named the Spin Cycle 400 for as many drivers that lost control of their cars during the season’s first contest on the 1.5-mile track. Bell led the first 32 laps through the competition caution—and that’s when the fun and games began. Ryan Blaney grabbed the lead out of the pits but his progress was slowed by Cole Custer’s spin on Lap 38.

Cautions continued to breed cautions at Vegas and two laps later, Austin Dillon slid up the track into Justin Haley. Kyle Busch spun trying to slow and avoid the melee ahead of him and collected Daniel Hemric in the process. Hemric finished 22nd.

The fourth caution of the stage came when Reddick spun in Turn 4 while running 15th. Kurt Busch elected not to pit with the field to grab the lead for the Lap 68 restart—then lost 23 positions in five laps. Byron claimed the lead on Lap 70, but Bowman passed him eight laps later and held on to win the first stage.

Michael McDowell remained on the track and led four laps but was quickly passed by Brad Keselowski, who gained track position with a two-tire stop. Denny Hamlin flexed his muscles and took the lead for the second of three trips on Lap 91. While the No. 11 Toyota appeared strong, Hamlin developed transmission issues throughout the race.

His run was interrupted by Chase Briscoe’s spin on Lap 93 followed by Keselowski’s spin 10 laps later. Both Briscoe and Keselowski collected drivers in the process. Daniel Suarez’ day ended while running 14th when he had nowhere to go but into Briscoe. Blaney, who was running ninth and behind Keselowski, suffered a similar dilemma. Suarez and Blaney finished 37th and 36th, respectively.

Chastain first took the lead on Lap 113. He faced a challenge from Larson, but after the No. 5 wiggled two laps later, the defending champ dropped to fifth. Briscoe experienced his second spin on the day Lap 134 to trigger the eighth caution. Austin Cindric checked up to avoid the No. 14 Ford and went around after Almirola packed air on the left rear of Cindric’s car.

When the lead lap cars came to the pits, Bowman, who was running fifth, received a tire violation penalty and dropped to the rear of the field. The race returned to green with Larson grabbing the lead out of the pits. But three laps later, Bell, who was running third, spun on the backstretch to ignite the ninth caution.

Larson maintained the lead for 22 laps, but on Lap 160 he was passed by Chastain, who held on to win Stage 2 five circuits later. Chastain continued his charge under the longest green-flag run of the race until he pitted for service on Lap 219. Two laps later, Hamlin stalled while coming to pit road after he down-shifted and broke the transaxle.

“Just killed every gear when I left pit road,” Hamlin said. “We had the best car today. Just got back there and was working our way forward and made mistakes.”

Until Hamlin’s DNF at Daytona, the No. 11 Toyota had been running at the finish for 56-straight races. Sunday’s DNF was the second of the season and the second broken transaxle having experienced a similar fate at the Busch Clash.

On the Lap 226 restart, Larson lined up 23rd after a speeding violation. Kyle Busch took the lead and appeared en route to a comeback win despite Truex nipping at his bumper. With less than three to go, Erik Jones lost control of his car then overcorrected coming to the frontstretch. In an effort to avoid Jones, Bubba Wallace wrecked as well for the 12th and final caution.

The leaders pitted with Larson, Bowman and Byron exiting first, second and third after taking two tires. Larson and Bowman both launched on the restart with Bowman getting an edge. The teammates side-drafted back and forth with Bowman ending up victorious.

“I was happy we made that call,” Larson said. “It’s kind of what I wanted to do and when I heard them say we were taking two tires, I was pleased by it. The grip was surprising. I had good grip there on two tires. I just got a little too focused on side-drafting him into (turn) three.

“Maybe if I could play it back again, I would try and just get a better arc and angle into three because when I got in there next to him, I just got really tight and had to lift out of the throttle.”

With Bowman’s seventh career win, Hendrick Motorsports has won seven of the last eight races. But Bowman was humble enough to admit the late-race yellow was a game-changer.

“I think the 18 and the 19 were better than us at the end,” Bowman said. “Like if the caution doesn't come out, I think I was going to get the 1 (Chastain), so probably finish third.

“Hendrick Motorsports, the depth of people and how good each and every person is there, pays off. We're here with a new race car that has completely changed everything in our industry, from how they work on it, how they build it. Everything I touch is different, the pedals, shifter, the steering.

"Obviously, it's paying off, how good everybody is at HMS. I think we're in a pretty good spot.”