AUSTIN, Texas — Alex Bowman had a close seat for Sunday’s final-lap frenzy between Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger, so close that he nearly vaulted from third into a place of distinction as the NASCAR Cup Series’ first two-time winner this year.
Instead, Bowman held on to guide a dinged No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet across the line in second place — narrowly missing the win that went to first-timer Chastain, but avoiding the gravel-trap calamity that sidelined Allmendinger at Circuit of The Americas.
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“I mean, I figured they would get rough and aggressive,” Bowman said on pit road post-race. “I tried to race as clean as possible and kind of just let them do their thing and pass both of them. Kind of worked out perfect until the 1 (Chastain) got into the 16 (Allmendinger), and I was along for the ride and limped across the start-finish line on fire. So I don’t know, it was a really good day for us, and it’s been a rough weekend for me — a lot going on. Sometimes things outside the race car aren’t great, and it makes the whole weekend even … it should feel good, but it doesn’t. So I’m just ready to get home, see the pups and move on to next week.”
If there’s another takeaway after putting himself in position for another late-blooming victory, it’s some perspective on how Chastain and Allmendinger raced each other with Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Allmendinger said repeatedly that Chastain would have to look himself in the mirror after his moves, without mentioning him by name.
Bowman said he’s had some of his own late-race moves to answer for, alluding to his well-publicized run-in with Denny Hamlin at Martinsville Speedway last fall.
“I’ve been on the other side of it, so I have to live with it, right? Like I talked about at Martinsville, I had to live with that,” Bowman said. “Best advice I have for Ross on that is put it on a T-shirt and sell the hell out of ’em.”