Alex Bowman knew his shot at Ryan Blaney was on the final restart at Pocono Raceway, but when that didn’t materialize, there was nothing left in the playbook.
“It certainly felt like nothing as soon as he got away from me,” Bowman said after finishing third. “I was like, [expletive], you’re just getting smaller and smaller.”
Sunday’s race restarted for the final time with 23 laps to go. Blaney initially gapped Bowman, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver was able to get within approximately two car lengths with 20 laps to go. A serious challenge never occurred as Blaney worked the air off Turn 3 to extend his lead again and drive away.
“I burnt the right rear off of it on the long run [when] I needed to get him on the restart,” Bowman said. “We kind of debated and went back and forth on which lane to pick, and I could have picked outside the second row and had a more secure spot [holding off track position], but I thought it was hard to turn down the front row.
“We always got away with second, at least, so just need to keep working at it.”
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Bowman restarted on the inside of the front row alongside Blaney. It was no surprise that restarts were critical at Pocono and there was much discussion amongst drivers about where they wanted to position themselves going into Turn 1.
“That’s just Pocono, right?” Bowman said. “The race I won here (in 2021), I think the first three [drivers] took the top, and I took the inside and got the lead on the restart, and that’s how we won the race, aside from Kyle [Larson] blowing a tire.
“It’s tough here. If you get guys that go three wide, it just kills the whole inside line, so the outside line doesn’t have a choice – they have to push each other and that’s why they get going so well. It was worth taking a shot at it and it didn’t work out.”
The result was still a top-five finish for Bowman, a week after his victory at Chicago. A spark is back within Bowman’s team, although he joked that it must be a fluke.
“I think that’s what everybody says on the interwebs,” he said. “I think it’s great to be pointed in the right direction and continue to have a good, solid result after last week’s win. Obviously, we want more; restarting on the front row, you want to get a win, but just needed a little bit more.”