‘I was really surprised,’ Alex Bowman reveals he was skeptical about the two-tire strategy working out for them at Las Vegas
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Alex Bowman wins Pennzoil 400
Alex Bowman came out victorious in a last-lap drag race against his teammate and defending Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson in the Pennzoil 400,hosted by Las Vegas motor speedway. Team Hendrick toped the result table in Vegas sweeping three places in the top 5 with Bowman finishing P1, Larson finishing at P2, and William Byron finishing at P5.
With only three laps left to finish when an overcorrected attempt from Erik Jones to regain control of his car caused a crash which brought out caution and overtime with Kyle Busch at the front. The front runners decide to pit before the restart that’s when the team Hedrick’s went for a risky strategy as crew chief Greg Ives decided to change only 2 tires of the car instead of 4 allowing team Hendricks to gain the top 3 positions in the restart.
Now the winner Alex Bowman has come out admitting that he wasn’t sure about how well their strategy was going to play out in the race.
Find out what Alex Bowman had to say about team Hendricks’s pit strategy
Alex Bowman acknowledged that he was surprised by the decision to go for two tires instead of four as changing only two typically tighten up your run though lots of things have changed with the Next-Gen cars. He went on to say he was worried if his run was going to be super tight but fortunately it didn’t and the risk paid off well.
“No. I was really surprised. On the front row there, you have to run so much throttle. We had been free on the short run, pretty good on the long run. I mean, I kind of feel like I know. A lot has changed with this race car, but typically two tires tighten you up a ton,” Alex Bowman said.
“We were on old tires earlier in the day, like cold old tires. When we had the pit road issue, we came back and put old tires on. I was super tight the whole run. I was worried we were going to be super tight. On the front row, you got to drive it like it’s going to stick. Thankfully it stuck,” Alex Bowman added.
“Happy to be able to get a win this early,” Alex Bowman is delighted with an early cup series win
Alex Bowman when asked about the significance of his win in Las Vegas early in the season said with his inconsistent start to the season and the uncertainty around the new car the Las Vegas win is great for him. He added that his Hendricks Chevrolet has been performing well since the beginning of the season and added that he is excited about getting things ready for the upcoming playoffs.
“Especially with how we started the year. Daytona and Fontana didn’t go well for us. Happy to be able to get a win this early. The strength of the Hendrick cars this early has been great. There are so many unknowns this year. A lot is going on. Excited to have the rest of the year to keep dialing these things in and be ready for the Playoffs,” Alex Bowman said.
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