Alex Bowman Beats Kyle Larson for Las Vegas Victory

For three weeks in a row, since the 2022 Cup season began, it has come down to a battle of teammates at the finish. At the season-opener in Daytona, it was Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric fighting it out while coming to the line, with the latter taking the victory. Last week at Auto Club, it was Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott who made controversial contact while racing for the lead with less than 15 laps to go. This past Sunday, the phenomenon continued as, once again, Larson found himself in competition with a teammate during a green-white-checkered finish.

LAP 1: Christopher Bell in the #20 Toyota Camry led the field to green from the pole position, alongside last week’s winner, Kyle Larson. Larson got loose in Turn 2 and slid up the track, losing several spots and allowing Bell to runaway with the lead.

CAUTION – LAP 30: The yellow flag waved for a competition caution so teams could check tire wear. Bell lost the lead on pit road to Ryan Blaney in the #12 Ford Mustang.

CAUTION – LAP 39: The caution came out again for a single-car spin involving Cole Custer in the #41.

CAUTION – LAP 42: Austin Dillon brought out the 3rd yellow flag when he spun on the exit of Turn 3, making contact with the #31 of Justin Haley and the #16 of Daniel Hemric. Kyle Busch in the #18 also spun in the same place as Dillon, but did not sustain any damage.

CAUTION – LAP 64: The #8 of Tyler Reddick brought out the caution when he spun on the exit of Turn 4 and went through the infield grass. This triggered another round of pit stops that saw Kurt Busch stay out of the pits to pick up the lead with just 13 laps to go in the stage.

LAP 67: When the race went back green, Kurt Busch’s gamble did not pay off because his older tires could not hold-off other cars with fresher rubber. Busch slipped back through the field as the Hendrick cars of Alex Bowman and William Byron took over at the front the field and battled for the lead.

STAGE 1 END – LAP 80: Alex Bowman won the stage and picked up the playoff point. Behind him, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott completed the Top 5 respectively.

CAUTION – LAP 94: The #14 of Chase Briscoe got loose coming out of Turn 4 and clipped the right-rear of Daniel Suarez in the #99 Chevrolet. Suarez was turned into the outside wall on the frontstretch and sustain enough damage to end his day.

CAUTION – LAP 105: Brad Keselowski in the #6 brought out another yellow flag when he got loose in Turn 4. The #12 of Ryan Blaney, who was behind Keselowski, ended up plowing into the side of the #6 when he spun, which ended both of their days.

CAUTION – LAP 136: The #2 of Austin Cindric, the #14 of Briscoe and the #21 of Harrison Burton tangled in Turn 4 and trigger yet another caution.

CAUTION – LAP 143: The yellow flag was dislayed once again for another single-car spin, this time involving the #20 of Christopher Bell, who had the left-rear tire go flat.

STAGE 2 END – LAP 165: In the final 3 laps of the stage, Kyle Larson began to lose speed and slip back through the field. This allowed the #1 of Ross Chastain to pick up the stage win and the playoff point. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Kyle Busch rounded out the Top 5 respectively at the end of the segment and also earned points. Following the restart to begin the final stage, Chastain continued to dominate from the top spot.

CAUTION – LAP 220: Denny Hamlin in the #11 missed a shift and stalled in Turn 2, which brought out the 11th caution of the day. Hamlin had to be pushed back to pit road where his day came to an early end with a broken transaxle.

CAUTION – LAP 264: With just 3 scheduled laps remaining, the yellow flag came out for the #43 of Erik Jones, who spun on his own on the frontstretch and collided with the SAFER barrier. The #23 of Bubba Wallace took evasive action that resulted with him losing control and spinning across the infield gras before making contact with the inside wall. Wallace, who was running in the 10th position, sustained significant damage and would go on to finish one lap down in 25th, while Jones was done for the day. This caution pushed the race into overtime.

LAP 272: The race restarted with two laps to go and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson making up 1st and 2nd place. The pair spent the final laps door-to-door, but Bowman pulled ahead slightly at the exit of Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 274: Alex Bowman was able to hold-off Kyle Larson to score his first victory of 2022 and his 5th in the last 11 months.

RESULTS:

1. Alex Bowman
2. Kyle Larson
3. Ross Chastain
4. Kyle Busch
5. William Byron
6. Aric Almirola
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Martin Truex Jr
9. Chase Elliott
10. Christopher Bell
11. Austin Dillon
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Kurt Busch
14. Joey Logano
15. Corey Lajoie
16. Harrison Burton
17. Justin Haly
18. Chris Buescher
19. Austin Cindric
20. Ty Dillon
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
22. Daniel Hemric
23. Todd Gilliland
24. Brad Keselowski
25. Bubba Wallace
26. Cody Ware
27. Michael McDowell
28. BJ McLeod
29. Josh Bilicki
30. Garrett Smithley
31. Erik Jones
32. Denny Hamlin
33. Cole Custer
34. Greg Biffle
35. Chase Briscoe
36. Ryan Blaney
37. Daniel Suarez