Alex Bowman wins the Auto Club 400. What 3 races have taught us about NASCAR in 2020

If last week was Chase Elliott’s time to shine for Hendrick Motorsports, this week was Alex Bowman’s. The No. 88 driver notched his second career win at the Auto Club 400 on Sunday.

Bowman led the field by more than 10 seconds in the final laps of the race to cruise to his first victory of the season for his Chevy team. He was followed by Kyle and Kurt Busch in second and third place, respectively.

So far, Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet have each won a race this season.

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS ON A ROLL

The team has been dominant on the Cup Series points chart so far after Elliott won the first two stages of the Pennzoil 400 a week ago. Alex Bowman capped off his teammate’s performance with a dominant run of his own; he led 110 of 200 laps on Sunday.

Despite a seventh-place finish for Jimmie Johnson amid his California homecoming, the No. 48 driver locked in series points for Hendrick by placing in the top 10 in each stage. (He finished top five in the first two stages.) Only Bowman led Johnson in the first stage, as he was the first-place finisher then as well.

Elliot finished in fourth place, while William Byron finished 15th to continue on the team’s early hot streak.

WHEN WILL RYAN BLANEY CLOSE?

It was Blaney who won the second stage. So far, the No. 12 driver has been channeling the greatness of the athlete his car’s paint scheme was designed to honor at Sunday’s race. Blaney, with his purple-and-gold car, was as on-point as late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant for almost the entirety of the race. But just like last week, a late-lap pit stop cost him. He finished in 19th.

After pit stops cycled through in the final 40 laps of the race, Blaney edged to the front of the pack and settled into second place behind Bowman, but a call with three laps to go took Blaney to pit road and allowed the Busch brothers and a slew of others to pass by him.

Blaney leads the Cup series in points and will continue to do so after Sunday’s performance. He finished in second place at the Daytona 500 and sparked the last-lap crash that sent Ryan Newman to the hospital.

He recovered with a consistent run at last week’s Pennzoil 400. Despite an 11th-place finish, the driver nearly took the lead for the win, but a similar decision to pit instead gave Team Penske teammate Joey Logano his first victory of the season.

Running at the front should soon pay off for Blaney, who is still looking for his first win this season.

ROOKIE FINISH

Tyler Reddick, a two-time Xfinity champion, has so far had a successful rookie run. He ran 13th for the final stage before notching an 11th-place finish. The No. 8 Chevrolet driver moved up eight places for Richard Childress Racing on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Reddick’s rookie counterpart Christopher Bell, who drives the No. 95 car for Leavine Family Racing, had a rough race Sunday. A bolt from another car came through the front of Bell’s ride, causing a hole in the oil cooler. That forced Bell out of the race, smoke trailing his car, less than halfway through for a last-place finish. The two rookies remain drivers to watch this season.

Auto Club 400 results

This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 6:58 PM.