Alex Bowman and the RAB Racing team left Phoenix International Raceway looking for better luck and found it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Although Bowman had never completed laps at the Diamond in the Desert, through advice from NASCAR veteran Mark Martin and crew chief Chris Rice, he was able to power his No. 99 Port of Tucson, Levine Financial, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Toyota Camry to an eighth-place finish and win his second Sunoco Rookie of the Race award.
Friday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a complete rainout, even though track officials spent hours drying the track and had a small window where the cars were on track, under yellow behind the pace car. “The track and NASCAR were definitely committed to trying to get us some practice time on Friday, but after all their hard work we got on the track and it started raining once again,” said Bowman. Instead of just waiting around watching the rain fall, the rookie driver went looking for advice from a fellow Toyota Camry driver and the most successful NASCAR Nationwide driver at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Mark Martin. “I think out of everybody that helps me out, I have to thank Mark Martin the most. It was the first time I met him and he was really willing to give me a lot of good information and the reason we were so good on the long runs and older tires is because of something Mark told me – and I’m going to keep that to myself. It was awesome to get to talk to him and get his advice because he’s one of the best there is, for sure.”
Saturday began early for NASCAR Nationwide teams as practice began at 8:30am. “I was really worried that we weren’t going to have any practice time going into qualifying and then the race on Saturday, but NASCAR made a great call and canceled qualifying, instead giving us an hour of practice,” said Bowman. “The hour of practice took place just a few hours before the race started so conditions were perfect and as a rookie I learned a lot that transferred right into the race.” Bowman and RAB Racing ended the only practice session in ninth place, the fastest rookie in the field. The team knew they were going to be in good shape for the race, as the car’s handling proved to be right on the money during the first run in practice, only making small adjustments and getting their rookie driver more laps during practice.
Since qualifying was canceled, the field was set by 2012 owner’s point standings which put Bowman and RAB Racing 18th on the starting grid. Immediately after the green flag dropped the No. 99 Port of Tucson Toyota Camry rocketed to the front of the field, running as high as 3rd place. “At Las Vegas Motor Speedway track position is so important,” said crew chief of the RAB Racing No. 99 Toyota Camry, Chris Rice. “We had a few pit mishaps so we continued to take two tires, but when we did the car’s handling was so much better upfront that we stuck to the same strategy all the way up until the end.” As a result of the good tack position and strategy by crew chief Chris Rice, Bowman avoided a series of crashes, and started in 10th place with 13 laps to go and finished the race strong in eighth place, earning his second Sunoco Rookie of the Race award in just three races so far this season.
Alex Bowman: “It was definitely a solid day. Everybody at RAB Racing gave me a good Port of Tucson Toyota Camry. It is really cool for me to get Port of Tucson the finish they deserve. They’ve been on with us for two previous races and kind of had some bad luck with them – cool to get them a top-10. The race car was a little bit better than me today. I made some mistakes on pit road – mistakes that last run that cost us probably finishing fifth or sixth. Can’t complain about eighth. We’ve torn up race cars the last two weeks, so it’s good to get out of here without a scratch on it and move onto Bristol next week.”
Chris Rice: “Alex Bowman, the kid is phenomenal when it comes to making speed out on the tack and on old tires, and he is only going to get better and better with more track time. We have all these races coming up that he’s never been to or even seen from Bristol to California to Texas and he goes out there in Las Vegas, a track he’s never seen before and ran really good so I’m really excited for the rest of the year. RAB Racing’s mile
and half package is really good and that’s all thanks to Toyota Racing Development and the resources, development, and information they supply our race team with.”
RAB Racing and Alex Bowman look to continue their climb back up the points standings next week and head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 on Saturday March 16th in 10th place in driver point standings.
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