December 10, 2024
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