June 30, 2025

Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports was one of the top contenders of the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the win. Bowman started the race from the ninth position, but lost ground throughout the first stage. He ended stage one in the 21st position and failed to score stage points. In the second stage, Bowman ended up continuing despite the race's biggest crash on lap 69 that took out many top contenders. He went on to lead a couple of times until the end of the stage, where he ended in fourth and gained several stage points. In the final stage, Bowman continued shuffling the lead between several other drivers as he ran most of the stage inside the top five. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver did take advantage of pit strategy with 30 laps to go in order to get fresher tires and start further back in the field. He soon rejoined the top five and played a pivotal role in determining the winner of the race. On the final lap, Bowman made it up to third and then, while his teammate Chase Elliott was going against Brad Keselowski, Bowman gave Elliott a push past Keselowski and then competed with Keselowski for second. Although Bowman was unable to pass Keselowski and settled for a third-place finish, Bowman helped Elliott win the race since he slowed down Keselowski and kept him from charging back for the win. Bowman's finish of third ties his best career Cup finish at Atlanta and also marks his best finish of the season since finishing second at Homestead in March.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com