Living near the playoff elimination line, Alex Bowman needed two more clean races with no new winners for the 2025 regular season. Austin Dillon, who entered the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway 28th in the championship standings, put a halt to that on Saturday evening.
Dillon dominated, leading a career-high 107 laps en route to his second consecutive victory at the 0.75-mile short track. But a hard-charging Bowman had the No. 3 car in his sight with the laps winding down. In a race that was filled with tire strategy, the No. 48 car pitted four laps later than Dillon, pitting for the final time with 55 laps remaining.
When the final set of pit stops cycled through, Bowman re-entered the race more than 12 seconds behind Dillon. At the checkered flag, he cut the deficit to 2.4 seconds, tying his best finish of the season (Homestead-Miami Speedway). He felt lapped traffic, particularly fellow Chevrolet drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Jesse Love (Dillon’s teammate), did the No. 48 team no favors.
“I sure complained about it on the radio, but that’s just part of what we do,” Bowman told NBC Sports. “Vented a little bit, but had a really good Ally 48 in the last run. Just broke the tires off too much in lap traffic. Didn’t get any breaks. That made me kind of work the rears harder than I need to.
“Just need to be a little better through there to get to [Dillon]. I certainly think we had the better car. Unfortunately didn’t get there. Just came up a little bit short.”
Bowman netted 41 points on the evening, the seventh time he cracked the 40-point barrier in 2025. He gained 28 points on Tyler Reddick, who won the opening stage on Saturday, but faltered during the second half of the race after Daniel Suarez shoved Ty Gibbs into the No. 45 car. Reddick plummeted to 34th in the finishing order.
With the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway looming next week, Bowman trails Reddick by 29 points for 15th on the playoff grid. He has a 60-point buffer over Chris Buescher, meaning if there’s not a new winner, the No. 48 car is all but locked into the postseason. The stress is pegged, however, knowing two of the last three Daytona winners late in the regular season won their way into the playoffs (Dillon in 2022, Harrison Burton in 2024).
Bowman has achieved four finishes of sixth or better in the last five Daytona races, but still believes it’s win or bust next weekend.
“I think with the way that race normally goes, it’s about a must-win at that point because I think you’re most likely going to have a new winner,” Bowman added. “Just need to go execute and try to win the race. That’s all we can really do. Looks like we maybe can get to [Reddick].
“Just got to go to work. That’s all we can do at this point. That’s what we’ve been doing, right? We’ve been doing a lot of good things. Unfortunately just one spot short tonight.”
After going through a slump late in the spring, the No. 48 team has been hitting its stride over the last two months. Over the last 10 races, dating back to the inaugural event at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Bowman has eighth finishes of 11th or better with seven top 10s.
Now it comes down to Daytona. In four drafting-style tracks in 2025, Bowman has three finishes of seventh or better.
“Just proud of all the guys to continue to work hard and try to overcome the situation we’re in,” Bowman added. “We’ll keep digging.”