Alex Bowman is supposed to win this week right?
The past two times someone won three races in a row, Kyle Larson twice in 2021, it was Bowman that ended those streaks. Christopher Bell took three consecutive wins into Las Vegas last weekend but Josh Berry ended that streak.
The winners so far this season:
Byron
Bell
Bell
Bell
Berry
Do you sense a theme Bowman?
“Yeah, there’s something every week that means we’re going to win,” Bowman said with a laugh after scoring the pole for the race on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “We didn’t do it last week but we probably had a car capable of doing it if our day would have just gone.”
To his point, he is off to a solid start and is fifth in points, the first on that list without a win who has a name that starts with that letter.
“There are some other guys that start with B too but at least we’re the ones starting up front,” Bowman said. “I think we’ll have a shot at it if there’s a conspiracy that’s getting me a win, I’ll take it. By the way, I’ll take them as you guys know, anyway I can get them.”
As solid as Bowman, Blake Harris and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 have been through five races, the veteran driver also believes there is more potential to unlock into the spring months.
“We’ve had interesting days, right,” Bowman said. “We just haven’t had a day that went okay for us and everything — like we executed all day and we ended up where we ended up.
“Like something has kind of happened every race that we’ve had to overcome. I would like to have some clean days because I feel like we can be further up front than we have been at the end of these things.”
He concedes it could be a lot worse.
“There are plenty of other things that could have completely taken us out of races that we have overcome, and had some cautions that have fallen our way to save us from the messes we’ve made too. So yeah, I think we are in a good spot. We have fast cars which is something to feel good about.”
Berry’s Momentum
The Wood Brothers are in a really good spot right now as Berry secured his third career front row starting spot on Sunday at Las Vegas.
It’s a reflection of their fast cars but also what happens in time trials after a driver strings together good results. The qualifying metric means a driver goes out later when a track picks up more grip and that just allows them to qualify up front with an even more regular basis.
This is the fourth time in five races that Berry is starting in the top-10. Momentum, right?
“Yeah, for sure. I’m just really proud of everyone on this 21 team,” Berry said. “The car has been really solid. The guys are doing a great job. We’re executing our Saturdays and now we just have to translate it into a solid day tomorrow. This track is really fun. I felt good about my car in practice. We got in some traffic and we’ve got a few things to work on to be better, but, overall, a great effort.”
Any disappointing in missing his first career pole?
“I don’t know,” Berry said. “Obviously, I would love to get my first pole position at some point, but it’s hard to be too disappointed with a second place start. It puts us in a great position for tomorrow. We’re gonna look at everything tonight and try to make some good decisions and see what we’ve got.”
Wrong B Driver
Anything can happen in NASCAR but Kyle Busch isn’t entirely sure he will be the driver with a name that starts in B that will continue that theme this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track where he won two championships but still doesn’t feel totally comfortable at.
“We struggle here a little bit,” Busch said. “It’s not quite my place now at (Ricard Childress Racing) but the car was better today than I remember in years past but didn’t really show that in qualifying or our race pace.”
He starts 22nd.
“We unloaded too tight and made a change and got too loose, so we overstepped that one.”
Suarez optimism
Right now, Daniel Suarez is in something best described to stick-and-ball fans as .500 hell.
It’s where a team is kind of right in the middle of having a winning record or a losing record and this was after nearly winning the race last weekend at Las Vegas, getting outdueled by Josh Berry on a late restart.
The lows have been low too with crashes at Atlanta and Austin but Suarez sees reason for optimism too.
“Definitely disappointed that we were that close,” Suarez said. “We gave it our best shot and I went to bed that night thinking what I could have done differently and maybe there was knowing what I know now, but in the moment, it was impossible. I think we did the right things in the right moment.
“We executed an amazing race. We had an okay car, great strategy and our pit stops are on point. We’re in a good spot but we continue to get better.”
Starting lineup
- Alex Bowman
- Josh Berry
- Noah Gragson
- Chase Briscoe
- William Byron
- Ryan Blaney
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Austin Cindric
- Bubba Wallace
- AJ Allmendinger
- Chris Buescher
- Joey Logano
- Ty Gibbs
- Kyle Larson
- Carson Hocevar
- Christopher Bell
- Zane Smith
- Chase Elliott
- Riley Herbst
- Justin Haley
- Tyler Reddick
- Kyle Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Cole Custer
- Ross Chastain
- Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
- Michael McDowell
- Erik Jones
- Todd Gilliland
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Preece
- Brad Keselowski
- Daniel Suarez
- Ty Dillon
- Shane Van Gisbergen
- Cody Ware
- JJ Yeley
