Chase Elliott won his first race of the 2025 Cup Series season at the EchoPark Speedway on Saturday. Instrumental in helping him pass the veteran Brad Keselowski in the final lap was his teammate, Alex Bowman. Elliott lauded the No. 48 driver for his selfless moves toward the end of the race.
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The majority of the fandom expected Bowman to leap for glory in the final moments. But he chose to stay in line and push Elliott toward Victory Lane. The decision was fueled by circumstances. However, it also put Bowman’s situational awareness and maturity on full display. Elliott couldn’t be more grateful for it after breaking his 44-race winless streak.
He said, “He and I both knew that the only shot we as a company had at that juncture was to line up and push and hope that something worked out good in our favor because at that point it was two on one. Whether it was he or I — obviously we both wanted to win — I recognize that he gave me a great shove.”
Bowman came home in third place following the sacrifice. It was a great result, no doubt. But that crucial Victory Lane visit is still pending for him. “Hope those guys can get a win. I think they deserve it. They’ve been fast. He’s had a terrible run of luck, I feel like over the last month. So it would be nice to see him grab a win and get in,” Elliott added about his teammate.
Bowman opens up on his decision to help Elliott get the win
Most drivers would have tried taking the win for themselves had they been in Bowman’s place. So, what led Bowman to be practical and put the welfare of his team ahead of his ambition?
When asked, he responded honestly, “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. But yeah, I mean the way the race would shuffle the leader out every handful of laps, I just led too early there.”
Bowman noted how his car had been extremely fast and that the results might have been different had there been a few more laps left. Though he left Atlanta without a win, he definitely scored some goodwill points in Rick Hendrick’s books. This ought to help him retain his seat for the foreseeable future.
