March 1, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Bowman dominates with new Camaro in California

FONTANA, Calif.—Alex Bowman predicted on Friday that if he “didn’t screw up” the No. 88 Cincinnati Chevrolet would be sitting in Victory Lane for the Auto Club 400.

Bowman’s prognostication was spot on. After topping both practices and qualifying third, he led 110 of 200 circuits and scorched the competition at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

Over the final 24 laps, Bowman extended his lead to nearly nine-seconds over Kyle Busch for his first victory in 2020 and his first win at the 2-mile track.

“I don't know what it was when we unloaded,” Bowman said. “No car feels perfect here by any means, just with how the tire wear is, but every run in practice I would honestly ask Greg (Ives, crew chief), I'd be like, it's doing a couple different things, but like how are our lap times, and he's like, you're like two‑and‑a‑half tenths better than anybody else on those laps. Knew we had a really good car, and it was just our job to keep up with the racetrack from there.       

“Obviously the racetrack is quite a bit different today just being 30 degrees cooler than it was on Friday, raining for the first 50 laps probably, but it was a lot of fun, and Greg did a good job keeping up with it.”

Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10. Eleventh-place Tyler Reddick was the top rookie.

The drama unfolded at ACS before Johnson’s wife Chandra waved the green flag in what is expected to be the seven-time champion’s final start at his home track. Both JTG Daugherty teams had unapproved adjustments on their Chevrolets and received L1 penalties. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece were forced to start from the rear and both of their crew chiefs were ejected prior to the race.

Rain threatened the start of the race, but after the drivers drove off of pit road, Hamlin returned during warmup laps for the team to change his right-rear shock. He missed the five-wide salute and lined up at the rear with the JTGD drivers and Martin Truex Jr., who failed inspection three times and started 38th.

Polesitter Clint Bowyer relinquished the lead to Bowman after 10 laps. The No. 88 Chevy pitted on Lap 29 and returned to the point seven laps later. Larson had pitted and was running 26th when Hamlin plowed into the back of the No. 42. Larson dropped to 33rd and would recover to finish 21st.

"We were going straight, I just got into the back of him too hard there and turned him sideways," said Hamlin, who believes the Toyotas lack speed to the Chevrolets and Fords. "We're just dog dick slow. Our cars handled okay, but if we don't have a draft we're just getting run over. I feel like we're getting beat on throttle time but we're also getting murdered down the straightaways.

"Just need more horsepower, more downforce and less drags. If we have all those, we'll be better."

Bowman held serve for the Stage 1 win followed by Blaney, Johnson, Almirola, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, Elliott and Kyle Busch. When the leaders came to pit, Kurt Busch blew by his pit stall and was forced to return to the pits. Johnson exited with the lead while Busch lined up 21st.

On the Lap 68 restart, Bowman pushed Blaney past the No. 48 Chevy for the lead. Christopher Bell’s day ended after 80 laps with a soured engine. Bowyer blew a left front tire to draw the second caution on Lap 93. After pit stops, Blaney regained the lead. Despite debris on his grille, he received an assist from Reed Sorenson and held on for the second stage win. Bowman, Johnson, Keselowski, Elliott, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jones and Harvick received points in the second segment.

Once again, Johnson won the race off of pit road. But he was quickly challenged by Blaney and Bowman. Truex was in the mix and led by Lap 130. He ran second, three seconds behind Bowman on Lap 155. However, a problem in the pits on Lap161 mired the No. 19 Toyota in the field. He finished 14th.

In the late stages of the race, Blaney mounted a charge for Bowman. But the No. 88 Chevy was too fast and Blaney developed a vibration attempting to chase Bowman. With three laps remaining in the contest, Blaney was forced to pit and finished 19th. For the second week, Blaney had a race-winning car with nothing to show for it.

“We led a little bit and ran pretty good, we just corded a right rear at the end,” Blaney said. “We lost the lead there at the beginning of the third stage and kind of got swallowed up and the 88 got away and got gone.

“We needed to be in front of him. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Before Blaney’s issue, Bowman just had to maintain course. He did just that to his second Cup career win.

“I think the most difficult time was when we did get behind on those restarts, really just felt like I really would have to burn my stuff up to get back to the 12 (Blaney) and then not be able to get around him and then eventually drive away from us,” Bowman said. “So that was the most difficult time. Our car was really good and it was really hard for me to decipher whether I burn the car up or we needed to make a change. 

“I kind of went with my gut and thought that I just burn the tires off of it and if we could get in front of the 12 and not have to pass five guys to get to him, we could stay in front of him.”

Bowman has steadily matured under the direction of Ives at Hendrick Motorsports. After testing and running simulation for the company, he filled in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the driver was sidelined in 2016 with a concussion. Bowman’s first Cup victory came with the team at Chicagoland Speedway in June in his 124th career start. But the driver remains on a year-to-year basis with the club.

When asked whether the win would help solidify a new contract for Bowman in 2021, Ives piped up and added with a smile, “No, he’s going to need multiple wins, so we’re going to work on that.”

Bowman appreciated his crew chief’s sarcasm.

“Man, I love Gregory,” he said with a smile. “Every year is a contract year. Every year of my life in the Cup Series has been a contract year. I've had contracts and two weeks before Daytona read a Tweet that said I'm not going to Daytona. There's never a situation that I feel completely comfortable in. I feel like if somebody doesn't want you driving their race cars, you're not going to be there driving it. 

“I'm as motivated as ever, doing everything I can to try to be the best on and off the racetrack as I can be. Hendrick Motorsports is where I want to be. It's where I want to stay for the rest of my career. It's just where I've always wanted to be. It's where I want to stay.          

“Hopefully we can make that happen, but it is a contract year. Honestly, every year of my career has been a contract year, so it's not much different than last year.”

Blaney leads the standings by 11 points over Logano.