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The Echo Park Automotive Grand Prix at COTA featured a three-way sprint race for the Cup Series trophy between winners Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, and AJ Allmendinger.
The 28-year-old driver began fifth and was in the top ten for most of the race. On the final pit stop of the day, Bowman's pit team earned him three positions. This put the No. 48 vehicle within the top five and allowed him to challenge the frontrunners Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger.
Alex Bowman climbed to the top three after starting fourth on the last restart as race leader Tyler Reddick slid down the order. The Hendrick Motorsports driver advanced on AJ Allmendinger as he battled Ross Chastain on the inside.
NASCAR shared a video on Twitter showing Bowman on the verge of becoming the day's winner, but everything went completely opposite of expectations.
As Allmendinger spun out, Bowman recovered to finish second, 1.331 seconds behind Chastain, who went on to win his first career race and the first ever win for Trackhouse Racing.
In an interview after the race, Bowman was proud to finish in the second position. He went ahead and stated that:
“Hate that we can’t come away with a win, but happy for Ross getting his first win. It’s been a crap weekend, so I’m ready to get home and see the dogs and move on to next weekend. Glad to come away with a second-place finish.”
Alex Bowman acknowledges his improvement in road course racing
Alex Bowman admitted that, with the support of the team, he believes he has achieved his goal of becoming a better road course driver than he was before this week. While speaking after the race, he stated that:
“I’ve been trying to do a better job as a race car driver at these road courses, and I felt like from where we started the weekend, I accomplished that.”
He went on to say that while he regrets not being able to bring the trophy back to Hendrick Motorsports, he is pleased with Ross Chastain's first Cup Series triumph.
He went on to say that he was pleased with his second-place finish and is dissatisfied with how the entire week went for him. Bowman went ahead and congratulated Chastain on Twitter.
"P2 at COTA. Proud of our run and super happy for Ross getting his first win. Almost had it but on to the next one."
