By David Morgan, Associate Editor
Close, but no cigar.
Alex Bowman had the win in sight in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but with eight laps remaining, contact with the outside wall slowed him enough for his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson to get by him for the lead and the win.
Bowman, who started the race on the pole in his No. 48 Chevrolet, led six times for 56 laps, ascending to the lead in the final stage of the race with 33 laps to go over Bubba Wallace, but as the laps wound down, Larson continued to close the gap between the two, setting up the battle for the win.
As both drivers ran inches off the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4, Bowman scrubbed the wall enough to bleed off the momentum he was holding over Larson, allowing him to streak by for the lead.
Bowman in the wall!
Larson to the lead!! pic.twitter.com/PfxEa2nQQD
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 23, 2025
Bowman would cross the line 1.205 seconds in arears of Larson to claim his best finish of the season. He also climbs to third in points, having finished inside the top-10 in all but one race this season.
“I guess I choked that one away for sure,” Bowman said. “Just burned my stuff up. Saw the 5 coming, so moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit [the wall] pretty hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel. And then I pulled it off the wall too much right there and hit the fence pretty bad.
“Man, I hate that for this Ally 48 group. They deserve better than that. Just a couple of mistakes there. Felt like we were OK all day. That last run was probably the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake and everybody for supporting this 48 team. Hate it for Mr. Hendrick. Congrats to Kyle. We’re going to try get another one this week.”
Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon was watching the end of the race from atop Bowman’s pit box and explained that a strong run like Sunday, despite the disappointing finish, should go a long way in helping the No. 48 team keep up the momentum they have shown thus far in 2025.
“Listen, I think this performance all weekend, to have that solid of a weekend pole… Pit stops were great. They were basically in the top five all day long, led a bunch of laps,” Gordon said.
“You know, to be leading at the end, contending, that does a lot for a race team. I think we saw the momentum building with that team last year, at the end of last year. You just hope that they can build on that and carry that into the season, and I think they have. You’ve got to get the results.
“So I think today was an important day for them, and I think you’ll see that create quite a spark to hopefully get them on a run.”
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