CONCORD, N.C. - When push came to shove, Chase Elliott was able to rely on a teammate on Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Team racing in the NASCAR Cup Series can be a tricky thing and so it was on Saturday as Elliott and Bowman, both drivers in need of a win to lock themselves into the playoffs, spent the vast majority of 400 miles jostling with each other and competitors for coveted track position near the front of the field.
Both teams brought fast Hendrick Motorsports Chevies and each was clearly among the cars to beat, combining to lead 73 laps. Bowman led twice inside the race's final 16 laps, but as the final stretch run to the checkered flag unfolded, it was Elliott who was in the right lanes at the right times, surging from fifth place with three laps to go to second place as the white flag waved.
And Bowman was right behind him.
Races at drafting tracks are decided by hundreds, perhaps thousands of decisions made in microseconds by each driver in the field. Bowman was certainly faced with a few final critical choices.
With Brad Keselowski leading, the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet gathered a big run as the field crossed the stripe for the penultimate time. Bowman could've tried to clear Elliott to give himself a shot at Keselowski coming down the backstretch and entering turn three. Instead, he took the momentum and delivered a shot to the back bumper of Elliott's No. 9 NAPA/CHOA Chevrolet and the surge was enough to wedge Keselowski off the bottom in the corner and put Elliott in front.
That could've been short lived. Coming off of turn two with Elliott now clear, Keselowski began to back up to Bowman in hopes of getting a final push from the No. 48. From Bowman's seat, that option was likely tempting. Perhaps Keselowski would've attempted a pass that Elliott tried to block and the two would've gotten together, allowing Bowman to slip past for the win.
But just as likely, the run would've been too great to block, and Keselowski could've motored back past and gone to victory lane. And so, before Keselowski could reach Bowman's bumper, Bowman swung inside, killing Keselowski's momentum and clearing for a moment before ultimately, Keselowski used a crossover move to edge Bowman out at the line.
And that is a lap at the 2022-reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Next Gen Era.
From Elliott's point of view:
"Got in just a couple of really good situations off of (turn) four and had a really big shove there into (turn) one, I think I got a two-for-one with a couple to go that got me to second. I'm not exactly sure what happened and somehow, (Bowman) got clear of that whole situation too. I couldn't really tell how that all happened and then, when I saw him in my mirror, I thought, 'Well, that's better than somebody else.' I know he wanted to win too.
"We came off of four and truthfully, the situation that we were in was whether I was in front of him or he was in front of me, pushing one another was really the only option there because if we take each other two-wide there, we're just handing the race to (Keselowski). So, hats off to him. He did a great job giving me good shoves and then he took a run on Brad on the last lap that kind of dismantled his final push coming to the flag."
For Elliott, it was jubilation. A dramatic win in front of a home crowd with a special paint scheme bearing a design from pediatric cancer patient Rhealynn Mills as part of the DESI9N TO DRIVE program.
For Bowman, well, it was another close call in a season that's consisted of a few of them. And in racing, there can be but one winner.
"I just led at the wrong time, I guess," Bowman said after the race. "Wish we were two spots better or whatever but still a good day for us in our Ally Camaro."
And in the aftermath and the interviews that followed, nobody on the No. 9 team or at Hendrick Motorsports overlooked Bowman's contributions to the betterment of the organization on Saturday.
“I can’t forget about Alex, (we) don’t win without him, great teammate,” No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “Super lucky to have him support (Elliott) like he did and (I) feel bad … he did a great job and deserved to win too, that whole 48 team. So, thanks to him for the shove there at the end, he put us in position.”
“I need to say a special, ‘Thank you,’ to Alex; we don’t win that race tonight without some of the moves Alex did,” added Jeff Andrews, Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager. “They had a great car as well … I’m really, really pleased with how all of our cars ran tonight.”