Alex Bowman scored his first win in NASCAR‘s top division in the Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was just outside the Windy City Sunday (7/30) in Joliet, Illinois. The race first had to beat Mother Nature as a heavy rain storm forced NASCAR to issue a Red Flag for more than three hours on lap 12 of the race.
When the track was dried and racing was green flagged again it was a battle for all the drivers throughout the field. Kevin Harvick appeared to be the car to beat most of the race. He led a race high 132 laps in the 267 lap race. Denny Hamlin was able to capture the win in stage one while Harvick was the winner in stage two.
Alex Bowman ran strong all day. He was in the top 10 all race and the top five a lot of the time. Near the end of the race he was able to get out front and lead the race a few times. In fact, Alex was the leader of the race a total of 88 laps … kind of appropriate don’t you think?
With laps running down Kyle Larson was able to chase Alex down and pass him for the lead. It appeared that Alex would finish in second place for again as he has done a few times already this season. However, Alex had other plans. He raced hard and re-took the lead from Larson.
Alex held on to the lead for the final laps to score his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of his career. Kyle Larson finished ins second place with Joey Logano taking home third. Jimmie Johnson scored a fourth place finish as Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Camping World 400 here.
The top five in the point standings remain basically the same this week. Joey Logano remains the leader with Kyle Busch in second place. Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski swap spots with Brad moving up to third and Kevin falling back to fourth. Martin Truex Jr. holds steady in fifth place. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
The drivers and teams are set to race next at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 this Saturday night, July 6th.
By: Buck Stevens