Bowman’s win comes with lots of emotions
On the day Jimmie Johnson was making his IndyCar Series debut, Alex Bowman put the No. 48 back in Victory Lane for the first time since 2017.
I see the Racing Gods put in some overtime over the weekend!
Bowman stunned the field Sunday in Richmond, passing Denny Hamlin on a late restart and leading the final 10 laps to win his first race of 2021.
Hamlin, meanwhile, saw another dominant day — he led 207 laps — end outside of Victory Lane. He would finish second for his eighth top-5 of the season and extend an already dominant points lead to 81 over Martin Truex Jr.
But this day was about Bowman The Showman, who got underneath Hamlin with 11 to go and made it stick for his third career victory.
“Obviously, Jimmie making his IndyCar debut today, really cool,” Bowman said after the race. “It’s probably over by now. Somebody fill me in on how he did, how eventful it was or wasn’t for him.”
We’ll get to that in a bit, Alex.
First gear
But first, back to Bowman’s win, which was his first in the No. 48 machine, and the first for sponsor Ally.
More importantly, it was also the first since William “Rowdy” Harrell, a Hendrick pit crew member, and his wife were killed in a car crash last November in the Florida Keys on their honeymoon.
Harrell, 30, was a tire carrier for Bowman’s pit crew.
“Rowdy was that big, outgoing personality that really kept the group pumped up in any situation, really held us all together,” an emotional Bowman said after the race. “He meant a ton to our race team. He’s probably the first guy when I filled in in the 88 back in the day to really make me feel super welcome, feel like he had my back.
“He was just a huge part of our team.”
Second gear
Bowman’s win wasn’t just his first in the No. 48, it was the No. 48’s first since Johnson won at Dover ... in 2017!
And how’s this for a deeper dive: This was Hendrick Motorsports’ first win at Richmond since Johnson won ... in 2008!
Now, who wants to guess who led the most laps that afternoon?
I’ll give you a few minutes.
Third gear
Back to old seven-time. Johnson began his rookie IndyCar season Sunday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park, finishing 19th of the 24 cars.
He was predictably a step behind the field most of the weekend, finishing last in both practices before qualifying 21st.
Johnson had to avoid a big wreck on the very first lap, and spun on his own 10 laps later. He would finish three laps down.
Give Jimmie credit, though. The 45year-old isn’t losing his sense of humor over the slow start ... yet.
“I wasn’t last!” Johnson tweeted after Saturday’s qualifying session.
Fourth gear
Alright, back to the stock-cars. Bowman’s win gives us eight different winners through nine races and, what’s that on the horizon?
That’s right. Talladega! Surely nothing weird will happen. That stuff never happens at these tracks.
Along with the guys we know will win this year and haven’t yet — Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick — you’re also going to have to watch out for guys like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Aric Almirola.
Hard to imagine we don’t get winner No. 9 on Sunday.
And hey, No. 9 could win on Sunday, too! I hear his daddy was pretty fast at that place.
Oh yeah, the Richmond trivia answer? It was David Reutimann, who led 104 laps.