CONCORD, N.C. -- Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 team, has his eyes set on running a great race at Richmond Raceway, pulling the positives from Martinsville Speedway as they prepare for another short-track race.
No. 48 driver Alex Bowman showed great speed at “The Paperclip,” finishing the first stage in seventh, the second stage in fourth and holding second place from Laps 339 to 362 after starting the race 20th.
Bowman’s day ended early after he was collected in an on-track incident at the .526-mile facility in the third stage, resulting in a 34th-place finish.
“When we left the track, I made sure our guys focused on performance, focused on speed and focused on Richmond,” Ives said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We can always look back when we are old and grey on what might have gotten away but not today, not tomorrow, and certainly not what we need going into Richmond.”
As a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, Ives’ drivers have finished 99.8% of their laps under his guidance at Richmond, with his best result coming from a fifth-place finish with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015.
In his last trip to Richmond, Ives helped Bowman secured a ninth-place finish, the duo’s first top-10 result at the Virginia track. This year, with the information they collected and a new wave of confidence, Ives and the rest of the No. 48 team are preparing to head to Richmond and improve on last year’s performance.
“I feel like the last time at Richmond, we had a solid run, not a race-winning run by any means, but we had a solid run and (were) able to continuously fine tune on that,” Ives said. “(I) definitely looking forward to getting there. The confidence is high on Alex’s side and that is a good sign for sure. I feel like we have the team capable of coming out of there with a solid day.”
Fans can catch Bowman, Ives and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers in action this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX at the .75-mile Virginia track.