NASCAR Pocono: Bowman wins in dramatic finish as Larson blows tyre

Larson had worked furiously late in the race to get around Bowman, who had grabbed the lead on a restart on Lap 112 of 130.

Larson finally got in front of Bowman with four laps remaining and appeared to be on his way to his fifth win of the 2021 season when he suddenly slowed exiting Turn 2 of the final lap with a flat left-front tyre.

Larson’s #5 Chevrolet ended up slamming into the Turn 3 wall and Bowman cruised by him to pick up the victory in the first race of a double-header at Pocono Raceway.

Bowman’s win is his third of the season and ends a four-race winning streak by Larson, who had won three points races and the All-Star Race over the past month, with Larson eventually making the finish down in ninth place.

"I hate to win one that way, but hell yeah, I'll take it," Bowman said. "Man, we kind of gave the lead away. [We] were on two tyres, just got super-tight. Tried to hold [Larson] off as long as I could. Can't say enough about everybody at Team Hendrick right now, body shop, engine shop, chassis shop. Top to bottom, everybody is putting race cars on the race track.

"We didn't run that good all day, so I'm kind of in shock. I don't know what to say to you guys. Hell yeah, so cool to see all the fans out here. It's a cool place day, beautiful weather, great day for a race. Heck, yeah, I'll take it."

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Ally

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

With Larson fading down the order it promoted a bunch of runners up a spot, with Kyle Busch taking second place for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hendrick Motorsports still enjoyed a strong showing despite Larson’s tyre blow, with William Byron taking third ahead of Joe Gibb Racing’s Denny Hamlin in fourth as Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.

Kurt Busch moved up to sixth place late on for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Joey Logano (Team Penske), Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Larson and Brad Keselowski (Team Penske).

Further frustration will follow for Larson because he will have to move to a back-up car, meaning he will have to start from the rear of the field in Sunday’s second race of the double-header.

Results

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	130	2:30'38.151			16
2	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	130	2:30'38.834	0.683	0.683	30
3	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	130	2:30'39.521	1.370	0.687	13
4	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	130	2:30'39.664	1.513	0.143	11
5	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	130	2:30'42.654	4.503	2.990
6	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	130	2:30'43.595	5.444	0.941	12
7	22	Joey Logano		Ford	130	2:30'43.940	5.789	0.345	18
8	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	130	2:30'44.607	6.456	0.667
9	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	130	2:30'44.990	6.839	0.383	15
10	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	130	2:30'45.583	7.432	0.593
11	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	130	2:30'50.526	12.375	4.943
12	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	130	2:30'50.749	12.598	0.223
13	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	130	2:30'52.027	13.876	1.278
14	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	130	2:30'52.722	14.571	0.695
15	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	130	2:30'53.084	14.933	0.362
16	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	130	2:30'53.273	15.122	0.189
17	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	130	2:30'53.843	15.692	0.570
18	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	130	2:30'54.553	16.402	0.710
19	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	130	2:30'55.585	17.434	1.032	5
20	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	130	2:30'56.280	18.129	0.695
21	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	130	2:30'56.690	18.539	0.410
22	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	130	2:30'57.484	19.333	0.794
23	37	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	130	2:30'59.093	20.942	1.609
24	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	130	2:31'01.771	23.620	2.678
25	51	Cody Ware		Chevrolet	130	2:31'06.069	27.918	4.298
26	38	Anthony Alfredo		Ford	130	2:31'09.246	31.095	3.177
27	77	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	130	2:31'13.589	35.438	4.343
28	15	James Davison		Chevrolet	130	2:31'15.916	37.765	2.327
29	53	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	130	2:31'21.722	43.571	5.806
30	78	B.J. McLeod		Ford	130	2:31'27.802	49.651	6.080
31	00	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	130	2:31'29.405	51.254	1.603
32	21	Matt DiBenedetto		Ford	129	2:31'02.091	1 Lap	1 Lap
33	42	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	129	2:31'08.993	1 Lap	6.902	10
34	52	Josh Bilicki		Ford	128	2:30'47.929	2 Laps	1 Lap
35	66	Timmy Hill		Toyota	126	2:30'43.565	4 Laps	2 Laps
36	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	125	2:31'06.858	5 Laps	1 Lap
37	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	96	2:02'12.363	34 Laps	29 Laps
38	41	Cole Custer		Ford	13	15'37.143	117 Laps	83 Laps