Alex Bowman outduels Larson for Pennzoil 400 triumph

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ Next Gen car promised to be more difficult to drive to challenge a pilot’s abilities, and Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway did just that. Sin City became Spin City as multiple drivers spun while battling their way in the seventh-generation Cup car. For Alex Bowman, the only spinning he was doing was a victory burnout.

A gamble to take two tyres ahead of overtime proved correct as it placed him alongside Hendrick Motorsports team-mate and defending race winner Kyle Larson on the front row for the restart. The two raced side-by-side for the two laps before Bowman had enough of a run in the final two corners to pull away and win at Vegas for the first time.

Christopher Bell won the pole ahead of Larson. Kyle Busch wrecked in practice and switched to a backup car, while Cole Custer (engine part), Daniel Hemric (transaxle), and Tyler Reddick (steering rack) went to the rear after changing certain components.

Bell led for the only time from the start of the race to the competition caution on lap 30. Ryan Blaney became the new leader until Custer became the first spinner on lap 37. Busch and Justin Haley suffered the same fate shortly after the ensuing restart, followed by Reddick on lap 63. Amid the spin cycle, Bowman took the lead with two laps before the stage conclusion to win ahead of Hendrick Motorsports team-mate William Byron, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Larson, Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Busch, and Bell.

Michael McDowell elected to stay out between stages, a play that ended in disaster on lap 93 when he got loose on older tyres and caused Briscoe to swerve into Daniel Suárez. Brad Keselowski, also with aged tyres, was the next driver to spin and did so on lap 103 in front of former Team Penske ally Ryan Blaney, ending the latter’s race. Penske and Briscoe’s woes continued thirty laps later when the latter and Austin Cindric spun on their own. Another caution flew on lap 141 for Bell going around.

At the front, Chastain led much of the stage including the final six laps to claim his and Trackhouse Racing Team‘s maiden stage victory. Elliott, Larson, Byron, Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, and Bubba Wallace followed. Greg Biffle was the lone driver in the stage to exit the race for reasons outside of spins or wrecks as he retired a fuel pump issue; it was his first Cup retirement at Las Vegas since his first start there in 2004. On the plus side, he was able to lead a lap by briefly staying out under caution after the Keselowski/Blaney accident for his first lap led since the 2016 fall Talladega race and the first for NY Racing Team, the latter of which included its previous iterations.

Despite getting two stage points, Hamlin’s race abruptly ended on lap 220 when he accidentally downshifted while pitting and spun, causing the car to stall. After being the only Cup driver to finish every race in 2021, he has now retired from two of the first three 2022 rounds. His Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Busch and Truex were more fortunate as they overtook Chastain for the top spot.

With five laps remaining, Erik Jones got loose and slammed into the outside wall exiting turn four before coasting along the apron and spinning up the track. Wallace spun trying to avoid Jones and barely avoided impacting him.

Ahead of overtime, Hendrick drivers Larson, Bowman, and Byron opted to change just right-side tyres which placed them ahead of Busch and others who took four. Running on the inside line, Bowman was next to Larson for the entire lap as they approached the white flag. Although Larson appeared to have the momentum on the backstretch, he could not keep Bowman at bay, and Bowman would instead gain the advantage in turns three and four to clear Larson for the win.

“What a call by (crew chief) Greg Ives and the guys to take two there,” said Bowman. “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.”

Bowman, nicknamed “The Showman” despite his objections, has had an unusual knack for being in the right place at the right time to win races. Of his seven career Cup victories including Las Vegas, five saw him take the lead with less than ten laps remaining, often following a late restart, while only one (Fontana 2020) featured true domination by leading the most laps. Busch, who had to settle for fourth, was vocal over his team radio about the winner as he exclaimed, “The same fucking guy who backs into every fucking win that he ever fucking gets backs into another fucking win.”

Bowman quipped about potentially turning the quote into a t-shirt graphic, an action he took following his win at Martinsville in 2021 after Hamlin called him a “hack”.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hendrick Motorsports pledged to donate $2,000 to a Ukraine relief fund by Samaritan’s Purse for every lap led by the team’s drivers in Sunday’s race, with $102,000 being raised in total as Bowman (sixteen laps), Byron (eight), and Larson (twenty-seven) combined for fifty-one laps.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	13	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
2	2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
3	18	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	274	Running
4	37	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	274	Running
5	14	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
6	20	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	274	Running
7	7	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	274	Running
8	12	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	274	Running
9	5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
10	1	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	274	Running
11	10	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	274	Running
12	25	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	274	Running
13	31	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	274	Running
14	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	274	Running
15	29	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
16	19	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	274	Running
17	28	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	274	Running
18	27	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	274	Running
19	3	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	274	Running
20	32	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	274	Running
21	9	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	274	Running
22	16	16	Daniel Hemric*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	274	Running
23	30	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	274	Running
24	15	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	273	Running
25	17	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	273	Running
26	33	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	273	Running
27	22	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	273	Running
28	35	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	272	Running
29	34	77	Josh Bilicki*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	271	Running
30	36	15	Garrett Smithley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	267	Running
31	23	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	264	Accident
32	8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	219	Drivetrain
33	24	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	171	Engine
34	26	44	Greg Biffle	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	148	Fuel Pump
35	4	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	135	Accident
36	11	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	104	Accident
37	21	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	92	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points