NASCAR Cup Series at Dover results: Alex Bowman wins as Hendrick cars claim each of the top four spots

It's just the fourth time in Cup Series history one team has swept the top four

When Alex Bowman won at Richmond Raceway in April, his victory was framed as him "stealing" one after a late restart and charge to the front. Today at Dover International Speedway, Bowman showed that his Richmond victory was no fluke by returning his No. 48 Chevrolet to a familiar parking spot in the first state.

After taking the lead from Kyle Larson during a round of pit stops, Alex Bowman dominated the final 100 laps of the Drydene 400 to earn his second win of the 2021 season. Bowman led a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3-4 sweep of the first four finishing positions, with Larson coming home second, Chase Elliott third, and William Byron fourth. Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, and Cole Custer rounded out the Top 10.

Bowman now becomes only the second driver this season to have won more than one race, and his victory is the fourth this season for Hendrick Motorsports.

"We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple weeks there. Went to some really good racetracks and struggled, and [I] told the guys last week we're still the same team that did it at Richmond. This is another really good place for us," Bowman told Fox Sports. "It feels right to put the No. 48 back in Victory Lane here after how many races that this car has won here."

While Sunday marked Alex Bowman's first trip to Victory Lane at Dover, it was far from the first time that his No. 48 had taken the checkered flag at The Monster Mile. Jimmie Johnson won a track record 11 times at Dover behind the wheel of Hendrick's No. 48, including the final win of his legendary career in the spring of 2017.

For the Hendrick stable, it was the sort of thrashing reminiscent of some of the company's best years: Hendrick cars dominated the day, with Kyle Larson leading most of the race before Bowman was able to overtake him with a quick pit stop under caution. Hendrick's 1-2-3-4 finish marked just the fourth time in NASCAR history that a team has placed four cars in the first four finishing positions and the first time in over 15 years. The last time a team placed four cars in the first four finishing positions was at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2005, when Roush Fenway Racing pulled off the feat.

With 13 races now in the record books, the NASCAR Cup Series has hit the halfway mark of its regular season with 10 drivers having earned a Playoff berth by virtue of winning a race. Next week will present a wild card for the entire field as the Cup Series makes its inaugural visit to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

[May 16, 2021 at 5:38 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

https://twitter.com/STaranto92...

[May 16, 2021 at 5:36 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Alex Bowman wins the Drydene 400 at Dover, completing a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3-4 sweep of the top of the runner order. Kyle Larson finishes second followed by Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, and Cole Custer.
This is Bowman's fourth career Cup win, second win of the season, and the first time he's won multiple races in a year.