Bowman Steals Richmond Cup Race Win on Sunday

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

RICHMOND, VA – RIS - Alex Bowman took the lead with 10 laps to go and went on to win the NASCAR Cup Toyota Owners 400 race at Richmond.  The race had been dominated by three drivers – Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr., and Joey Logano until a caution came out late in the race.  A good pit stop put him in a position to pass Logano and Hamlin and charge on to the victory.

 Hamlin won the first two stages of Sunday's race and was in control after a late caution, but Bowman stole the victory from him with great late pace. He opened up a half-second lead after the restart and took home his first win of the 2021 season — and the third win of his career.

Hamlin, meanwhile, secured his eighth top-five finish of the year, but he's probably left wondering what he's going to have to do to take home a checkered flag in 2021.Logano finished third and Truex wound up fifth.  Christopher Bell was fourth.

“To be honest with you, we were terrible on short runs, so we restarted third and I was like, ‘Man, if we can get out of here with a solid top five, we’ll be good,'” Bowman said.  “We overcame a lot today. I don’t know if (crew chief) Greg (Ives) pumped the (tire) pressures way up or what he did, but that was more grip than I’ve ever had in a race car at Richmond. It worked out really well.”

Bowman, who overcame a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire during the Stage 2 break, snapped a 23-race winless streak for Hendrick Motorsports at Richmond.

Hamlin, he was forced to settle for second after leading a race-high 207 laps.

Coming off Kevin Harvick‘s crash with 20 laps to go, Hamlin beat Logano out of pit road under the caution to take the lead. But Hamlin was unable to hold on.  Hamlin, the regular season points leader remains winless in 2021.

“We just didn’t take off quite as good there at the end,” Hamlin said. “I tried to warm it up and do everything that I could – just the 48 (Alex Bowman) had a little more on those last few laps and I couldn’t hold the bottom. Once he got the position, we were just shut down there.”

Early on Truex was dominate as was Hamlin. He led 107 laps, but his hopes for a win were undone by a pit road penalty for speeding during green flag stops just before Lap 300. He made his way back to fifth, but it was too late to challenge for the win.

When that final caution for Harvick’s blown tire, Logano was leading with Hamlin challenging Logano.  When the yellow flag was waved, that was all erased.  Bowman passed both drivers easily and went on for the win.

 Unofficial Results for the 66th Annual TOYOTA OWNERS 400, April 18, 2021, Richmond Raceway

Fin, Str, Car, Driver, Team, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 24, 48, Alex Bowman, Ally Chevrolet, 400, 7, 4, 1, 10, 5, 51, Running
2) 2, 11, Denny Hamlin, FedEx Express Toyota, 400, 1, 1, 6, 207, 2, 55, Running
3) 5, 22, Joey Logano, Shell Pennzoil Ford, 400, 3, 3, 5, 49, , 50, Running
4) 8, 20, Christopher Bell, Sirius XM Toyota, 400, 6, 9, , , , 40, Running
5) 1, 19, Martin Truex Jr., Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 400, 2, 2, 5, 107, , 50, Running
6) 22, 10, Aric Almirola, Smithfield Ford, 400, , 10, , , , 32, Running
7) 4, 24, William Byron, Liberty University Chevrolet, 400, 4, 8, , , , 40, Running
8) 10, 18, Kyle Busch, M&M's Red Nose Day Toyota, 400, , 7, 1, 1, , 33, Running
9) 16, 21, Matt DiBenedetto, Menards/Libman Ford, 400, , 6, , , , 33, Running
10) 11, 3, Austin Dillon,  Chevrolet, 400, 8, , 1, 1, , 30, Running
11) 7, 12, Ryan Blaney, BodyArmor Ford, 400, 5, , , , , 32, Running
12) 3, 9, Chase Elliott, NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 17, 1, Kurt Busch, Tubi TV Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 20, 2, Brad Keselowski, Discount Tire Ford, 400, 9, , 2, 25, , 25, Running
15) 18, 42, Ross Chastain, McDonald's Chevrolet, 399, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 27, 99, Daniel Suarez, Camping World Chevrolet, 399, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 14, 47, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kroger/Nature Valley Chevrolet, 399, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 6, 5, Kyle Larson, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 30, 43, Erik Jones, Medallion Bank Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 13, 8, Tyler Reddick, Cat #WhatPowersYou Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 36, 7, Corey LaJoie, Schluter Systems Chevrolet, 398, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 26, 14, Chase Briscoe #, Global Mustang Week Ford, 398, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 21, 41, Cole Custer, HaasTooling.com Ford, 398, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 9, 4, Kevin Harvick, Hunt Brother?s Pizza Ford, 397, 10, 5, , , , 20, Running
25) 12, 17, Chris Buescher, Fifth Third Bank Ford, 397, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 15, 23, Bubba Wallace, Root Insurance Toyota, 397, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 23, 34, Michael McDowell, Love's Travel Stops Ford, 396, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 38, 33, * Austin Cindric(i), Verizon 5G Ford, 396, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 25, 37, * Ryan Preece, Maxwell House Chevrolet, 396, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 19, 6, Ryan Newman, Oscar Mayer Ford, 395, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 29, 38, Anthony Alfredo #, MDS Ford, 395, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 35, 78, BJ McLeod(i), Surface Sunscreen Ford, 393, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 28, 15, James Davison, Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 390, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 32, 00, Quin Houff, Mount-N-Lock Chevrolet, 390, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 37, 53, Garrett Smithley(i), Trophy Tractor Chevrolet, 389, , , , , , 0, Running
36) 33, 51, Cody Ware(i), Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 385, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 31, 52, Josh Bilicki, Insurance King Ford, 384, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 34, 77, Justin Haley(i), Diamond Creek Water Chevrolet, 1, , , , , , 0, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 6 Mins, 57 Secs
Race Length: 400 Laps, 300 Miles
Average Speed: 96.282 MPH
Margin of Victory: .381 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 11, 19, 22, 24, 12, 20, 48, 3, 2, 4

Stage 2 Top 10: 11, 19, 22, 48, 4, 21, 18, 24, 20, 10

Comments: Alex Bowman won the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Cautions: 5 for 39 laps;
Laps: 32-37 (Competition Caution [53]);