Alex Bowman Steals Richmond Win

NASCAR concluded its 3-race stretch of short-tracks with a trip to the 3/4-mile Richmond Raceway in Virginia. The race was fairly tame, as most events are at Richmond, but featured lots of side-by-side action and a few close calls. In the end, a late-race caution disrupted Virginia-native Denny Hamlin’s plans of capturing his first victory of the 2021 season.

LAP 1: Last week’s winner, Martin Truex Jr, started in pole position and led the field to the green flag. Truex’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, started second but was slow to accelerate on the start, causing him to lose several positions.

CAUTION – LAP 30: The yellow flag waved for the competition caution so teams could check tire wear and make adjustments. Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road, which put him in P1 to restart and allowed him to pull away with the lead.

STAGE 1 END – LAP 80: An incident-free Stage 1 allowed Hamlin to easily claim the segment win and the playoff point. Truex Jr, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 5 and also picked up points. Hamlin remained in the lead to start the second stage as his dominating performance continued.

CAUTION – LAP 140: The first for-cause caution came out when the #6 of Ryan Newman spun in Turn 3 after slight contact from Austin Cindric.

STAGE 2 END – LAP 235: Once again, Denny Hamlin won the stage with Martin Truex Jr in hot pursuit. Behind them, Logano, Alex Bowman, and Kevin Harvick completed the top 5.

CAUTION – LAP 381: With less than 20 laps to go, the caution flag came out for Kevin Harvick in the #4 Ford. Harvick’s right rear tire blew, which caused him to make heavy contact with the wall in Turn 1. The race restarted with 11 laps to go.

LAP 390: Alex Bowman in the #48 got a great start from the third position and was able to pass both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to take the lead.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 400: Bowman crossed the finished line just 0.3-seconds ahead of Hamlin. This was Bowman’s first win of 2021 and the first victory for the #48 car since 2017.

RESULTS:

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