CONCORD, N.C. – Throughout Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, Alex Bowman steadily worked his way through the field.
He credited his teammates for spurring on that constant climb.
“Our Axalta pit crew was on it today,” the driver said after the race. “I am pretty sure we gained two or more positions on each stop.”
The biggest jump came just after the green-checkered flag to end Stage 1. After starting the race just inside the top 20, he was able to begin Stage 2 in 10th thanks to quick work by the No. 88 team pit crew that allowed him to pick up four positions on pit road.
From there, he battled in and around the top 10 until he crossed the finish line.
In the end, he took the checkered flag in 10th, notching his second consecutive top-10 finish and sixth of the season.
“It was a good day for us for sure,” he said. “Another top 10 is something for our team to continue building on. We battled some loose conditions off and on, but (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) made some great changes to the car.” “This is definitely good momentum going into next week’s race.”
ELLIOTT, BYRON FINISH BACK-TO-BACK
For much of Sunday’s race, it looked like Elliott would claim a top-10 finish of his own.
He took the green flag in third and climbed as high as the runner-up spot early in the race. He picked up stage points in both of the first two segments and began the final stint in seventh. But he began to fall back in the pack as the laps wound down.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t finish like we started,” he said. “We tried a couple things and they just didn’t work out in our favor. There just was no pace on the top there at the end.”
Elliott took the checkered flag in 19th followed directly by Byron, who finished 20th.
The driver of the No. 24 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 battled the handling of his ride throughout the race after taking the green flag inside the top 10.
“Just fought tight the whole day and felt like we got a little bit on the other side of it, but it didn’t really help us out much,” he explained. “Still, good pit stops and a couple of good things to hang on to. So, on to Daytona.”