Chase Elliott’s Atlanta race win was a breath of fresh air for the whole Hendrick Motorsports team. Their last win before Atlanta came in May when Kyle Larson won at Kansas. Although Kyle Larson and William Byron could only manage to finish the Atlanta race in P17 and P37, respectively, Alex Bowman helped Elliott win the race on the final lap to move past Brad Keselowski.
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Bowman delivered the critical push Elliott needed, propelling him past Keselowski’s No. 6 car entering Turn 1. Elliott seized control and never looked back, sealing a dramatic win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Bowman crossed the line third, behind Keselowski.
Asked by Bob Pockrass why he opted to assist Elliott rather than attempt a move for himself, Bowman offered a candid response. “I didn’t really have a choice there on the last lap of what I was going to do. There wasn’t an opportunity for me to win the race, unfortunately… The way the race would shuffle the leader out every handful of laps, I just led too early there.”
Bowman acknowledged the strength of his car and admitted that with a few more laps, he might have cycled back to the front. He said, “Yeah, we had a really, really good car. And certainly, a couple more laps, we would have probably shuffled back to the lead at some point. Just got the timing wrong and didn’t maintain control of the race.”
Alex Bowman on the final laps, why he ended up as a pusher of Chase Elliott and not able to make a move for the win. @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/onRyKtCKcB
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 29, 2025
Responding to Keselowski’s remarks about working with Elliott late in the race, Bowman didn’t miss a beat. “I mean, I think Brad worked really well with his teammates too at times,” Bowman said but expressed no regret.
While the No. 48 driver admitted he would have preferred to be a couple of positions better, he was satisfied with the performance. He emphasized that the result was a matter of timing and sequence, given that the team didn’t instruct him to push or hold back.
Mixed fortunes for Hendrick Motorsports
Elliott, who drove a car designed by Rhealynn Mills, an 11-year-old pediatric cancer patient from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, as part of the DESI9N TO DRIVE initiative, narrowly avoided disaster in Stage 2, steering clear of a massive pileup by leading the field at the time.
His Hendrick teammates weren’t as fortunate, though. Bowman escaped with minimal damage and remained in contention; Larson continued despite sustaining minor setbacks, while Byron was caught in the melee and retired early, salvaging seven stage points despite a 37th-place finish.
As the laps wound down, the front of the field became a revolving door, with Elliott, Keselowski, and Tyler Reddick swapping for the lead. With five laps remaining, Keselowski led the charge, followed by Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bowman, and Elliott in fifth.
On Lap 258, Elliott made his move, diving beneath Bowman and Stenhouse on the backstretch before pulling alongside Reddick. He completed the pass on Turn 2 of the next lap, setting his sights on the lead.
