RICHMOND, Va. - A soft tire and a hot summer night at Richmond Raceway made for an eventful, exciting NASCAR Cup Series race on Saturday.
And with split strategies and long runs full of comers and goers, Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team found a way to stay toward the front when it mattered.
Using solid restarts, pit adjustments and a car that got better as the laps ticked down, Bowman found himself in the top five by the end of stage two and finished off a big points day, coming home second. He will head to Daytona International Speedway next week 60 points above the playoff cutline, to gain 30 points on Tyler Reddick, avoid a new winner or to win to clinch a postseason berth.
"We need to go execute and try to win the race," Bowman said of Daytona. "Just got to go to work. That's all we can do. That's what we've been doing. We've been doing a lot of good things, unfortunately (we were) just one spot short tonight."
He was joined in the top 10 on Saturday night by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who finished sixth, overcoming a tough-luck qualifying effort with a long and fruitful march to the front.
"It was a great fight for us," Larson said. "Our team did an awesome job getting us track position. I felt like they really nailed the strategy for what we had going on all race long."
Speaking of points, it was a big night for William Byron as well for the driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevy. Byron clinched the NASCAR Cup Series regular season points championship with his 12th-place run and will earn 15 playoff points to add to his postseason ledger.
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The split strategies on tires started early and Byron and Larson took advantage. They were the first two cars to hit pit road in stage one and Larson benefitted from the fresh rubber, gathering crucial track position after starting back in the pack. Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman were on the other side, choosing not to pit in the opening segment, saving a set of tires for later.
While the first stage went caution free for all 70 laps, the second stage saw the race change for good. The teams that saved a set of Goodyears were able to pit an extra time over the course of the segment's 150 laps, sending teams down further divergent paths.
And all of that was turned on its head when the race's first yellow flag waved with 50 laps to go for a Tyler Reddick crash. The stoppage came amid green-flag pit stops with Larson leading. But the wreck was just a precursor of things to come. Larson pitted and used new tires to quickly reestablish himself up the scoring pylon.
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But cautions breed cautions and just a few laps later, Cody Ware spun to bring out the yellow again. While that pause was brief, the next one wouldn't be. Kyle Busch tagged Chase Briscoe getting into the corner, setting off a 12-car melee that unfortunately included Elliott and Byron. The No. 24 Liberty University Chevy was able to continue but Elliott wasn't as fortunate, finishing 38th.
Finally, the field spaced out again on the next restart with Bowman steadily climbing forward to finish fifth in the stage, gathering six stage points. Byron rallied all the way to ninth to grab a pair of bonus tallies and Larson was 10th, earning one.
Bowman restarted stage three on the bottom of the third row. Michael McDowell led the field to green on two tires and quickly fell back, allowing an opening for Bowman to slip into third place. He quickly proved his staying power, maintaining his position over a lengthy green flag run to the checkered flag. He moved forward one more spot with a late pass on Ryan Blaney and though he was reeling in eventual winner Austin Dillon, he ran out of laps.
The NASCAR Cup Series will conclude its regular season with a 400-mile race at Daytona next Saturday night. The race will start at 7:30 p.m. and will air on NBC.
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Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- Noah Gragson, No. 4
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Corey Heim, No. 67
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- Jesse Love, No. 33
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- Justin Haley, No. 7
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet