Alex Bowman feels the Hendrick Motorsports teams are doing so well that the pressure of ‘must win’ was taken off them heading into the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
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He is on the money. All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers currently sit inside the top eight of the Cup Series standings. That’s because of their consistent runs and trips to victory lane.
That form continued on race day, with three of the HMS cars cracked the top six by the end of the night. Only Kyle Larson faded to a P21 finish after showing early pace and leading five laps.
Bowman led the charge for the team, bringing his #48 home in fourth after starting 9th. Reflecting on the performance, he credited his crew for digging deep.
“We were so bad yesterday and the guys made the right adjustments,” Bowman said. “Our hands are pretty tied on what we can or can’t change, and they made a lot of really good calls to take us from struggling pretty bad to at least having a shot at it there at the end.”
A 4th-place result in a non-points race doesn’t move the needle in the standings. But Bowman acknowledged the improvement was a step forward.
“I think we certainly came here just to try to learn things. It pays $1 million, but honestly, winning a regular Cup race, with the playoff implications and everything, it adds up to more than that. So yeah, just came here to learn.”
Competitive but not winning pace
Chase Elliott, who crossed the line right behind Bowman, admitted he wished he had been in the mix for the win, calling it a strong race for track position.
He noted the event ran smoother than last year’s edition. He also feels his #9 Chevy was competitive, just a tick off the pace needed to win. “We were in the mix, but we just needed a little bit more [pace] to be there with Joey [Logano] and Christopher [Bell],” Elliott said.
William Byron also tipped his cap to the entire HMS lineup but pointed out that his #24 team needs to keep chipping away. “We were good to start the weekend and good to start the race, but it just seemed like it kind of went away on us,” Byron said.
While the HMS #24 Chevy driver admitted he didn’t expect to walk away with the win, he felt they were at least in the ballpark. Overall, he was content with the performance but he knows there is more work to be done.
