The best finish of Alex Bowman‘s Sprint Cup career took a lot out of him.
The replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway with what Earnhardt called a “stomach bug,” and managed put the No. 88 in seventh place.
Afterward, Bowman had to be taken to the infield medical center.
The seventh-place finish is Bowman’s best in 77 career Sprint Cup starts. He has two top 10s in his six races in the No. 88 as Earnhardt recovers from a concussion.
Bowman was one of three non-Chase drivers in the top 10. A.J. Allmendingerfinished eighth. It’s his sixth of the year and his first since the August Bristol race.
“It felt like the best 1.5-mile race we put together there” Allmendinger said. “Good solid top-10 car all day. I made a mistake and sped on pit road (on Lap 117) and got us behind a little bit. Just kind of tough call there at the end. You don’t know how many people are going to pit and good track position and everybody behind me came. I was pretty happy to hold most of them off. I felt like we had about a fifth or sixth-place car and we finished eighth with it. Just a solid day. We need to keep doing work like this.”
Allmendinger has 44 top 10s in 294 Sprint Cup starts, with nine in the last two seasons.
Kasey Kahne finished 10th for his sixth top 10 in seven races. He has 12 top 10s this year, his most since 2013.
Harvick, who led 74 laps, has won the second race in both rounds of the Chase so far. He won at New Hampshire in the first round.
“These races are hard to win and these guys are so good at the details,” Harvick told NBC Sports. “You put their backs against the wall and they get better.”
Harvick first took the lead on Lap 126 from Matt Kenseth, who led 116 laps before the halfway point before fading to finish ninth. Harvick then led 43 laps. In the middle of the race, a slow pit stop sent Harvick deep into the top 10, but Harvick returned to the point on the final restart. Edwards got into a tense battle with Busch, allowing Harvick to jump out to a 2.5-second lead.
Since the elimination format of the Chase debuted in 2014, Harvick has never been eliminated from a round.
“It’s hard to keep yourself motivated and perform at a high level, so to be able to come out and do it for three years says a lot about the character of this team and the things that they do,” Harvick said. “I’ve done a poor job (on restarts) the first half of the year. We struggled with some ratios and timing. We came up with some good ratios and things that really fit what we are doing.”
Harvick’s fourth win of the year gives him 35 Sprint Cup victories.
HOW KEVIN HARVICK WON: Harvick overtook Carl Edwards on the final restart with 30 to go and led the rest of the way unchallenged.
WHO HAD A GOOD DAY: Carl Edwards led 61 laps and earned his first top five since Kentucky in July … Joey Logano finished third a week after placing 36th at Charlotte … Jimmie Johnson followed up his Charlotte win with a fourth-place finish … Alex Bowman bounced back from early contact with Jamie McMurray and an unscheduled pit stop to finish seventh for his career-best finish and his second top 10 … A.J. Allmendinger finished eighth for his sixth top 10 of the season and his first since Bristol in August …Kasey Kahne‘s 10th-place finish gives him six top 10s in the last seven races.
WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Aric Almirola andDavid Ragan caused a caution on Lap 37 when they got together. Almirola finished 40th, Ragan in 36th … Jamie McMurray hit the wall on Lap 44 after making contact with Alex Bowman. McMurray finished 37th … Kyle Larson hit the outside wall on Lap 177 to bring out the caution. Larson finished 30th … Brad Keselowski was turned by Denny Hamlinas they exited Turn 4 on Lap 190. Keselowski went sliding through the frontstretch grass, receiving significant damage. Keselowski finished 38th, earning his first DNF since the 2015 Daytona 500 … Denny Hamlin finished 15th after having to pit three times under one caution for splitter damage and being called for three pit road penalties late.
Notable: The last four Kansas races have been won by a different driver … Chevrolet has won 11 of the 22 Sprint Cup races held at Kansas.
Quote of the Day: “With this format I had a big points gap coming in. With this format it is probably the smart thing to do but I don’t want to race like that. I want to race my guts out and go for wins. I don’t want to points race. I don’t care what the damn format is, I am going to give it my best.” – Brad Keselowski after finishing 38th
NEXT: Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, who won Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, are the only drivers guaranteed to advance to the Round of 8.
Johnson remains the points leader after the second race of the Round of 12, which concludes next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
Joey Logano holds the eighth and final transfer spot. He’s tied with Austin Dillonwith 3,045 points. Logano owns the tiebreaker based on a better finish than Dillon in this round. Logano placed third Sunday.
Kevin Harvick scored his fourth win of the season, capturing Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway to advance to the Round of 8.
Carl Edwards placed second, tying his best finish at Kansas and scoring his first top-five result since Kentucky on July 9.Joey Logano was third. He was followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.
With six remaining races in the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season -- the one in which Bowyer drives the No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet -- it's hard for the veteran not to look ahead to next year, when he'll replace the retiring Tony Stewart.
"Certainly, it's always natural to start thinking about next year. You better be this time of year no matter if you are moving or staying the same and nothing changes," Bowyer said Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400(2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
"That is how far in advance you have to look in this sport and work. All the organizations are lining themselves up and gearing up for next year, all the while, there is a lot of racing left to do in 2016."
It's a trying request for Bowyer not to start licking his chops thinking about his soon-to-be ride when he's struggled with an ill-performing car most of the season and has a mere three top-10 finishes, by far a career low.
It doesn't help to stem the anticipation any when he sees his future teammates battling for wins and titles. Last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a prime example, according to the 37-year-old Emporia, Kansas native.
"I look over and I see all the Stewart-Haas cars up front, qualified well, Danica (Patrick) was fast, all the cars raced well," he said. "Those are the things that you look at and get excited for next year. But, hey, you've got an opportunity to come back home and race and compete in front of your hometown crowd. Like I said, there is plenty of racing to do and things to accomplish this year. We've got to cap it off well and start to get focused on next year.
"It is exciting. … An email came across my phone and I look over and its No. 14 merchandise approvals for next year. You are like 'holy cow,' it's becoming reality. It's fixing to pick up in a big way."
There's basically nowhere to go but up in his impending season with SHR, as a tumultuous 2013 campaign with Michael Waltrip Racing set his career on the path of a winless downward spiral in which his performance declined from every measurable aspect -- a year after finishing runner-up to Brad Keselowski for theSprint Cup Series title. Last year’s announcement that he’d replace the three-time champion Stewart at season’s end was the first good news he’d had to share publicly since the birth of his son, Cash.
Apart from the increase in performance he can expect from an organization that took home the 2014 title with driver Kevin Harvick, that has five wins this season and put three drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, SHR offers Bowyer a welcoming environment in which he's already comfortable with their top-tiered talent, many of which are longtime friends of his.
"Just a great outfit over there, everybody from the top to the bottom; the teammates, I've worked with Kevin (Harvick) for many years. I'm looking forward to Kurt (Busch). Kurt is the one that I've never really known a lot about. Always raced against him, but never worked with him in any way, shape or form. Danica, I'm closer to her than probably some of the others, so I'm just looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a neat atmosphere and something that 10 years into this thing one of the best opportunities ever is at your doorstep and fixing to happen.
" … Just looking forward to being in a situation where you can go out and know that if the equipment is there that you will have a good weekend. That is all you can ask for as a race car driver.”
While it's likely that Bowyer will have to wait until next year to finally win a Sprint Cup race at his home track, he knows that there were valuable lessons he'll take away from a frustrating season.
"I think I've learned a lot from the racing on the race track and I’ve learned a lot about myself (this year)," he said. "This isn't easy and I think hopefully we can get back in (the media center) and there are going to be these seats filled again.
"And I've got a beer in my hand because the trophy is sitting right there, right? That is what we do this for."
My gut tells me Carl Edwards will finally win at Kansas, but my better judgment tells me Kyle Busch. In a sense and by his standards, the younger Busch brother is long overdue to reach victory lane. His last win was in July at the Brickyard 400, meaning he’s winless in the last 10 races.
I’d bet he hasn’t forgotten about last year and with starting on the pole, it wouldn’t surprise me if Kenseth doesn’t give anyone the chance to get close to him late on Sunday.
The eighth caution of the Kansas Lottery 300 could have big implications in the Xfinity Chase. A six-car accident on Lap 165 involved Chase drivers Justin Allgaierand Darrell Wallace Jr.
Brandon Jones appeared to make contact with Allgaier entering Turn 1. Allgaier’s No. 7 shot up the track and collected a few cars, including former Chase driverRyan Sieg and Cole Custer.
Ryan Reed, another Chase driver, was scored as being involved, though he did not receive any serious damage.
Wallace was shown wincing as he got out of his No. 6 Ford in the garage.
“Pretty hard hit, just unfortunate,” Wallace told NBCSN. “We were making some good calls and leading some laps and trying to run our own race. People want some wild race in the next three. Here you go. Took out some Chase drivers.”
The Chase received another twist with 24 laps to go when Brendan Gaughangot loose from side drafting withRoss Chastainand went careening through the infield grass.
The Kansas Lottery 300 is the first race in the second round of the Xfinity Chase. The series will be off the next two weeks before resuming at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 5.
