So close, yet so far for Bowman at Daytona

Alex Bowman was on the wrong end of a Hendrick Motorsports one-two finish in the Daytona 500 because the caution fell too soon.

“One more lap, man, we had a massive run, so we’re going to take the lead, but who knows what happens by the time we get to Turn 3 or back around to the start/finish line,” Bowman said. “We had a shot at it, and that’s all you can ask for at these speedway races. Happy for William. Wish it was us. But still a great day for Hendrick Motorsports.”

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Bowman was in the outside lane coming to the white flag when the final wreck of the night broke out in front of him. Bowman shot past Ross Chastain, who spun to the inside after colliding with Austin Cindric, who was coming up from the bottom lane after contact from Corey LaJoie.

With the competition out of the way, Bowman was charging to the outside of his teammate when the caution came out. NASCAR determined the race winner, the No. 24 of Byron, by the timestamp of who was leading when the caution was activated.

“I’m not salty at all,” Bowman said. “To be that close to a Daytona 500 (win) is a little bit heartbreaking, for sure. But it’s much worse to not have a shot at all at it, right? And we put ourselves in a position where we had the biggest run to take the lead at the white flag. So that’s all you can ask for.”

Monday, February 19 was the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ first NASCAR race. It has also been 10 years since the organization last won the Daytona 500 (2014 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.)

“Super-cool,” Bowman said of the organization's victory and one-two finish. “A lot of history at Hendrick Motorsports this year and today in particular being the anniversary of the first race. I’m just really happy for Mr. H and Mrs. H (Hendrick) and everybody who puts this deal together. It was a good day.

“We want to win, but everything we could control, I feel like we did a pretty good job of (controlling). We made a couple of mistakes throughout the race but were able to overcome them and still a really good day for us.”

Bowman has finished in the top five in two of his last three Daytona 500 starts.