Entry List : Dover Motor Speedway

• Dover International Speedway
• Drydene 400
• Pole Winner: Martin Truex Jr
• Age: 40
• Team: No. 19 - Reser's Fine Foods Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
• Crew Chief: James Small
• Start positions set by NASCAR's Performance Metrics Qualifying (PMQ).
• Martin Truex Jr won the Pole Award for the Drydene 400 by having the highest total PMQ.
• PMQ is a total number calculated on four performance metrics from the previous race:
• 15% of the driver's fastest lap time position.
• 25% of the driver's final race finish position.
• 25% of the owner's final race position.
• 35% of the Owner Points position.

• Sunday, May 16th, 2021
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Bowman leads Hendrick Motorsports sweep of top four positions at Dover

Say this about Alex Bowman, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet has got his timing right. The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the lead off pit road following his final pit stop with 97 of 400 race laps remaining, held off the field on two more race restarts and earned his second victory of the year in Sunday's Drydene 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

The win punctuated a historic Hendrick Motorsports day at the famed one-mile track, with the team becoming the third organization in NASCAR Cup Series history to finish 1-2-3-4 in a single event; joining Peter DePaolo Racing (Dec. 30, 1956 at Titusville, April 7, 1957 at North Wilkesboro) and Roush Fenway Racing (Nov. 20, 2005 at Homestead-Miami). Bowman held off his teammate Kyle Larson by 2.017-seconds. Chase Elliott (third) and William Byron (fourth) finished just behind marking the first time in the organization's 267-victory history it's had a four-car sweep atop the scoreboard.

It was actually Larson who paced the field most of the day - leading a race best 263 of the opening 303 laps and sweeping both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories - his series-best fifth and sixth stage wins of the season. And at one point, Sunday, he led the field by a full eight-seconds.

But Bowman's team turned in the single fastest pit stop of the entire 2021 season during a late race caution period and got the car back on track just in front of Larson. Bowman held off his teammate on the restart and pulled away to a comfortable win.

"You guys won that race not me," Bowman excitedly shouted to his team after taking the checkered flag. "I'm so proud of you."

The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had a track record 11 previous victories at Dover - all with driver Jimmie Johnson, who retired from fulltime NASCAR competition at the end of the 2020 season. The 28-year old Tucson native, Bowman, just started piloting the No. 48 this year, winning at Richmond, Va. last month - again turning in a late race rally - leading only the final 10 laps en route to that win.

Certainly, the Hendrick Motorsports organization showed early-on Sunday that it was ready to settle the trophy among its drivers. In all, Bowman, Larson and Byron combined to lead 381 of the 400 laps.

As the laps wound down, television cameras captured team owner Rick Hendrick nervously pacing on pit road, well aware of the significance of his four cars atop the scoring pylon.

"I can guarantee you this is the most nervous I've ever been in a race," a beaming Rick Hendrick said. "Great day for the organization. And Alex, congratulations to him. This is a sign of the guys working together and bringing good stuff to the track.

"I don't think it will hit me until tomorrow that we were able to finish one, two, three, four. That's pretty hard to do, things can happen, pit stops, tires, anything. That's a first and we'll take it. It was a great day for us."

Not only was it a win for Bowman, a seriously strong effort by Larson, but it was also another statement-making day for the 23-year-old William Byron. It marks his 11th straight top-10 finish - making him the youngest in series history to put together a string of excellence like that.

Team Penske's Joey Logano finished fifth, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick (sixth) and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin (seventh).

Richard Childress Racing's Tyler Reddick turned in his sixth top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place finish. Daniel Suarez finished ninth - his second top 10 for the new TrackHouse Racing team and Stewart-Haas Racing's Cole Custer earned his second top 10 of the season.

With his work this weekend, Byron moves into second place in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings - 101 points behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin. Three-race winner Martin Truex Jr., who finished 19th, is now third, 102 points behind Hamlin.

The showing at Dover marks the 11th time in 13 races this season that Hendrick Motorsports has had at least two drivers finish in the top-10. Six times now, three of the team's four drivers have earned top-10 finishes in the same race.

"We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple of weeks there," Bowman said. "We went to some really good racetracks for us and struggled. I told the guys last week, ‘we're still the same team that did it at Richmond.' This is another really good place for us.

"I'm just so pumped for [sponsor] Ally. It feels right to put the 48 back in Victory Lane here after how many races that this car has won here."

All three of NASCAR's national series will debut at the Circuit of The Americas next week in Austin, Texas.

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 400
• Margin of Victory: 02.017 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 19 Minutes 55 Seconds
• Average Speed: 120.050
• Cautions: 7 for 41 laps
• Lead Changes: 10
• Green Flag Passes: 659 (1.8 passes per green flag lap)

• Dover International Speedway
• 52nd Annual Drydene 400
• Race Winner: Alex Bowman
• Age: 28
• Team : No. 48 - Ally Chevrolet
• Owner: Hendrick Motorsports
• Crew Chief: Greg Ives
• Alex Bowman won the 52nd Annual Drydene 400, his fourth victory in 202 NASCAR Cup Series races.
• This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2021.
• This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 11 races at Dover International Speedway.
• Kyle Larson (second) posted his 10th top-10 finish in 13 races at Dover International Speedway. It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2021.
• Chase Elliott (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 11 races at Dover International Speedway. It is his seventh top-10 finish in 2021.
• Anthony Alfredo (28th) was the highest finishing rookie.
• This is Hendrick Motorsport's 267th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
• Hendrick Motorsports becomes the third organization in NASCAR Cup Series history to finish first, second, third and fourth in a single event; joining Peter DePaolo Racing (Dec. 30, 1956 at Titusville, April 7, 1957 at North Wilkesboro) and Roush Fenway Racing (Nov. 20, 2005 at Homestead-Miami).
• Hendrick Motorsports has the most wins at Dover in the NASCAR Cup Series with 21 victories among seven drivers: Jimmie Johnson (11), Jeff Gordon (five), Geoff Bodine (one), Ken Schrader (one), Ricky Rudd (one), Chase Elliott (one) and Alex Bowman (one).