The Echopark Speedway in Atlanta witnessed one of the fiercest battles in NASCAR in 2025. The Quaker State 400 had its share of drama and chaos, with two big crashes coming right at the end of stage 1 and the other at the start of stage 2. Some of the big names like William Byron, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, and Denny Hamlin called it quits after the ‘Big One’ at Lap 69 in stage 2. Byron, who leads the points standings was bummed out after ending his day with a DNF. “It’s just a bummer that early in the race. I don’t really know what was going on.” But this chaos allowed the likes of Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman to contend for the win, and boy, they put on a good show.
The final laps of the race kept the motorheads on the edge of their seats. It looked as if RFK’s No.6 Brad Keselowski would finally bag his first win, leading the final laps from 255 to 269 with clean air. However, the #9 HMS Chevy grew bigger in his rear-view mirror, and Bowman did what a good teammate would do on a superspeedway race: bump the #9 Chevy. Elliott took the lead at the drop of the white flag, and he didn’t look back. He ended his 44-race winless drought. But it was Bowman’s sacrificial move that helped Elliott win his first event of 2025. And this sacrificial role didn’t go unnoticed.
Alex Bowman is a perfect team player
In the final turn, Keselowski still had a chance to overtake his rival Elliott; however, Bowman, instead of pushing harder to finish first, decided to help his teammate by pushing Keselowski sideways, luring the RFK Racing car to defend its position. After the race, Keselowski mentioned how the rival groups’ teamwork cost his playoff entry. “When we had our cars linked up at RFK [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], we could do the same thing, but we lost that, and it was just kind of a two-on-one, and I fought as hard as I could.” The Hendrick Motorsports team appeared satisfied by Bowman’s sacrifice to let his teammate win.
When a journalist asked Jeff Andrews, President of Hendrick Motorsports, about Bowman’s clever move to push the No.6 to the inside to let his teammate win the race he said, “You know obviously he had a huge run and uh drove down inside of the of the six there and uh made that work and I think from my perspective you know I’m thinking next you know is he going to go after Chase, right? Does he have that big of a run, you know, what to get to Chase and go after him? So which you can’t blame him for doing, you know given the situation that you know both of these teams are in and need to win to get in the playoffs. But you know, tonight teammates made the team work tonight and we’re super proud of that and just proud of the whole Hendrick Motorsports effort tonight.”
Brad Keselowski on coming up just one spot short as Chase Elliott passed him on the final lap at Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/DBETh3MIYi
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 29, 2025
Bowman, just like Elliott, is in dire need of a win to advance to the playoffs. This was the third week in a row when a new driver shuffled the points standings and the playoffs scenario. Just four spots are remaining to complete the playoff field, so Bowman had all the incentive to have the momentum tagging behind the #6 Ford and deal with him on the final corner. However, he chose to be a team player and helped Chase Elliott grab his big win for 2025.
Chase Elliott tips his hat to Bowman for the Atlanta win
OEM partner alliance and teammates can often turn against each other, especially when a playoff spot is on the line. However, Alex Bowman made a choice that kept him out of the championship race, but allowed his teammate to get through. Chase Elliott, who was jostling for the position on the final few laps, didn’t have a clue what was happening behind him, but seeing the #48 Chevy in his rear-view mirror calmed his nerves.
“When I saw him in my mirror, I thought, well, you know, that’s better than somebody else. I know he wanted to wi,n too. But then yeah, you know, we kind of came off four. And truthfully, the situation that we were in was whether I was in front of him or he was in front of me, pushing one another was the only option there, because if we take each other too wide there, we’re just handing the race to the six,” Elliott said this to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Like Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports has now managed to get three cars into the playoffs. As far as Bowman’s chances are concerned, his team will be hoping that they are the new winners in the next eight races. He is hovering right above the bubble with a gap of 39 points. A win in Chicago or Daytona could seal the deal for the #48 team, but they are not alone in this case.
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