Alex Bowman knew his shot at Ryan Blaney was on the ultimate restart at Pocono Raceway, however when that didn’t materialize, there was nothing left within the playbook.
“It actually felt like nothing as quickly as he obtained away from me,” Bowman mentioned after ending third. “I used to be like, [expletive], you’re simply getting smaller and smaller.”
Sunday’s race restarted for the ultimate time with 23 laps to go. Blaney initially gapped Bowman, however the Hendrick Motorsports driver was in a position to get inside roughly two automobile lengths with 20 laps to go. A critical problem by no means occurred as Blaney labored the air off Flip 3 to increase his lead once more and drive away.
“I burnt the best rear off of it on the long term [when] I wanted to get him on the restart,” Bowman mentioned. “We form of debated and went forwards and backwards on which lane to select, and I may have picked exterior the second row and had a safer spot [holding off track position], however I assumed it was onerous to show down the entrance row.
“We at all times obtained away with second, not less than, so simply have to hold working at it.”
Bowman restarted on the within of the entrance row alongside Blaney. It was no shock that restarts have been essential at Pocono and there was a lot dialogue amongst drivers about the place they wished to place themselves going into Flip 1.
“That’s simply Pocono, proper?” Bowman mentioned. “The race I gained right here (in 2021), I believe the primary three [drivers] took the highest, and I took the within and obtained the lead on the restart, and that’s how we gained the race, apart from Kyle [Larson] blowing a tire.
“It’s powerful right here. In case you get guys that go three vast, it simply kills the entire inside line, so the surface line doesn’t have a alternative – they should push one another and that’s why they get going so properly. It was value taking a shot at it and it didn’t work out.”
The end result was nonetheless a top-five end for Bowman, per week after his victory at Chicago. A spark is again inside Bowman’s group, though he joked that it should be a fluke.
“I believe that’s what all people says on the interwebs,” he mentioned. “I believe it’s nice to be pointed in the best path and proceed to have a very good, stable end result after final week’s win. Clearly, we wish extra; restarting on the entrance row, you wish to get a win, however simply wanted a bit of bit extra.”
