DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Alex Bowman started Sunday’s Daytona 500 up front on the outside pole alongside teammate and pole sitter William Byron. And when the green flag waved, the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 settled into second, maintaining a top-10 position throughout much of the season-opener.
The No. 88 team didn’t let early issues with the radio communication between Bowman and the pit box slow them down, picking up extra points due to his second-place Stage 1 finish.
A pit road penalty in Stage 2 set the No. 88 team back, as did contact during several multiple-car incidents in the final 10 laps. But Bowman and the team kept battling, ultimately taking the checkered flag in overtime just outside of the top 10, earning an 11th-place result.
“We had a really good race car, just an up and down day,” Bowman said in a video he posted to Twitter. “We had a pit road penalty put us back, I pulled out for the lead and shouldn’t have and it kind of put us back. Then the (No.) 20 (car) ran out of fuel pressure right in front of us, and that buried us. So, we crashed a couple times and still rolled across the line in 11th.
“Proud of my Nationwide No. 88 team.”