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| Hendrick Motorsports |
Alex Bowman has won the “Toyota Owners” 400 at Richmond Raceway, scoring only his 3rd career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Coming into this weekend, this race was anticipated to be a battle between Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Brad Keselowski, and for the most part, that’s exactly what occurred. This race saw fan favorites like Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Martin Truex Jr., time and time again battling for the lead. Hamlin, leading 210 laps of the race, undoubtedly had one of the fastest cars at the track today. Unfortunately for Hamlin, like much of his season thus far, he was not able to take advantage of the speed in his car, and was ultimately unable to score a victory.
Denny Hamlin ran a good race, starting 2nd from the green flag, and displaying his ability to stay within the top-2 for... virtually the entire race. In the final stage, Logano passed Hamlin for the lead, though Denny Hamlin eventually made his way back to the bumper of the No. 22. Hamlin fought for a while, and just made the pass on Logano, when Kevin Harvick had a right rear tire go down, and the No. 4 slammed into the wall, bringing out the caution. On the restart, Denny Hamlin was the control car, choosing the inside lane. This choice was the advantage Hamlin needed to get past Joey Logano, but really, Denny Hamlin should have worried about Alex Bowman, who was directly behind the No. 11.
Today, Alex Bowman had undoubtedly his best run of the 2021 season, and on this restart Bowman took advantage of the grip and speed in his No. 48 Ally Camaro, diving in deep into the corners and passing Denny Hamlin for the race lead, and a few laps later, the race win.
This race finish comes as a welcome sight to Aric Almirola, and Matt DiBenedetto fans alike. Both drivers scored their first top-10 of the season this evening at Richmond Raceway.
During today’s race, Denny Hamlin won both stages 1 and 2, and of course Alex Bowman won stage 3.
The following are the complete race results:
1. Alex Bowman- No. 48
2. Denny Hamlin- No. 11
3. Joey Logano- No. 22
4. Christopher Bell- No. 20
5. Martin Truex Jr.- No. 19
6. Aric Almirola- No. 10
7. William Byron- No. 24
8. Kyle Busch- No. 18
9. Matt DiBenedetto- No. 21
10. Austin Dillon- No. 3
11. Ryan Blaney- No. 12
12. Chase Elliott- No. 9
13. Kurt Busch- No. 1
14. Brad Keselowski- No. 2
15. Ross Chastain- No. 42
16. Daniel Suárez- No. 99
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- No. 47
18. Kyle Larson- No. 5
19. Erik Jones- No. 43
20. Tyler Reddick- No. 8
21. Corey LaJoie- No. 7
22. Chase Briscoe- No. 14
23. Cole Custer- No. 41
24. Kevin Harvick- No. 4
25. Chris Buescher- No. 17
26. Bubba Wallace- No. 23
27. Michael McDowell- No. 34
28. Austin Cindric- No. 33
29. Ryan Preece- No. 37
30. Ryan Newman- No. 6
31. Anthony Alfredo- No. 38
32. BJ McLeod- No. 78
33. James Davison- No. 15
34. Quin Houff- No. 00
35. Garrett Smithley- No. 53
36. Cody Ware- No. 51
37. Josh Bilicki- No. 52
38. Justin Haley- No. 77 - DNF
RETWEET TO CONGRATULATE @Alex_Bowman ON HIS WIN AT RICHMOND!#NASCAR | @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/HWJhE9XiXq
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 18, 2021
NEW LEADER: ALEX BOWMAN pic.twitter.com/VvJ6M2IJ3c
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 18, 2021
Tire trouble sends Harvick hard into the wall at Richmond.
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 18, 2021
Replay: https://t.co/GqqvLNQ3sp pic.twitter.com/hZ0o01nNfZ
Watch as Ryan Newman goes around after contact with Austin Cindric!
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 18, 2021
This is the first caution for cause at Richmond since 2019. pic.twitter.com/D8r6qygtFI
.@dennyhamlin leads as we get back underway in Richmond!@CocaColaRacing | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/YBmHbBb2Kz
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 18, 2021
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