'I guess I choked that one away' - Bowman at Homestead

Alex Bowman gave the win away Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway but continued one of the hottest starts to a Cup Series season he's ever had.

Bowman finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 after giving up the lead with seven laps to go. He led Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson into Turns 3 and 4 when his Ally Chevrolet caught the wall, allowing Larson to make up the remaining gap and drive past for the victory. It was Bowman’s first top-five finish of the season after leading 43 laps and his best finish in Southern Florida.

“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman told Fox Sports. “I just kind of burned my stuff up; saw the [No.] 5 coming, so I moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit it 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 far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.”

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Bowman apologized to his team on the radio after the checkered flag, but the return message from crew chief Blake Harris was about the positives: Bowman started from the pole, led laps, and had a shot at winning at a racetrack the team needed to improve on.

“I hate that for this Ally [No.] 48 group,” Bowman continued. “They deserve better than that, and just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this [No.] 48 team. I hate it for Mr. Hendrick — congrats to Kyle – and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”

Sunday was the most laps Bowman has led in a race this season. It was also his fourth consecutive top-10 finish -- he's finished in the top 10 in five of the season’s six races. He moved to third in points.

“It was a good day for the No. 48 Ally Unrivaled League Chevy team,” Bowman said. “We have some work to do, for sure, but overall it was a really good weekend for us at a racetrack that hasn’t been very good to us in the past.”