Alex Bowman became just the second driver in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season to score multiple wins, as he had an ultra-quick pit stop with just under 100 laps left in Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway to take the lead. Bowman would cruise to his second victory of the year.
“Just so proud of this pit crew,” Bowman said after the victory. “It was obviously a rough offseason for us, and a big void to fill. Not that we’re ever going to fill the void that Rowdy left, but Allen is doing a really good job and the whole pit crew is doing a really good job.”
For Bowman and the No. 48 team, they won Richmond, but things went south as they finished 17th-or-worse in the three races since. Bowman said that he rallied the troops a week ago by reminding them they were the team that rose to the occasion at Richmond.
“We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple of weeks there,” Bowman explained. “Went to some really good race tracks for us and struggled. I told the guys last week, ‘We’re still the same team that did it at Richmond.’ This is another really good place for us. I’m just some pumped for Ally. It feels right to put the 48 back in victory lane here after how many races this car has won here.”
Bowman held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who utterly dominated the race by winning Stages 1 and 2 and leading and incredible 263 laps.
Chase Elliott and William Byron made it a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top-four positions by finishing third and fourth. This is the first time in the iconic history of the Hendrick Motorsports team that they finished 1st through 4th.
For Byron, this marks his 11th-consecutive top-10 finish.
Joey Logano rounded out the top-five finishers in the race in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang.
Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez and Cole Custer capped off the top-10 finishers on the day.
For Suarez, this marks the second top-10 finish of the season for the upstart No. 99 Trackhouse racing team.
