Bowman battles back for a 15th place finish at Indinapolis

It was a day of firsts for the RAB Racing No. 99 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Toyota Camry and driver Alex Bowman at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Saturday marked the first time Bowman and crew chief Chris Rice took to the 2.5 mile Brickyard, and was the first time Nationwide Children’s Hospital made an appearance on the No. 99. Unfortunately it was also the first time that the team had to utilize the back up car after contact with the wall in qualifying, RAB Racing chassis No. 39 made its first start of the 2013 season, starting 38th out of the 40 car field.

 

As the green flag flew on the Indiana 250, Bowman immediately started moving through the field, and on lap 10 was shown in the 29th position. Throughout the day crew chief Chris Rice and the RAB Racing pit crew gained several positions in the pits, passing multiple cars every time Bowman was called in for a pit stop. On lap 54 of 100, the No. 99 continued its methodical march to the front of the field, being shown in the 20th position. After avoiding multiple incidents in the closing laps, passing cars while being three and sometimes even four wide, Bowman found himself restarting in the 10th position with only six laps to go. With heavy traffic and the top groove, where Bowman restarted in, stalling out in he closing laps the No. 99 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Toyota Camry finished in the 15th position.

 

Alex Bowman: “Coming to this famed track is pretty cool, growing up racing sprint cars and midgets, everybody wants to get to here, and it didn’t really hit me until we were riding around there with six laps to go and I was like, ‘Man, I’m running 10th at Indy and that’s pretty cool.’ It was a tough day for our guys, we had Nationwide Children’s Hospital on the car and really appreciate them coming on board and sorry they didn’t get the coverage in the race and sorry to my guys for crashing the primary car in qualifying, but for us to come out of here as decent as we did, I think it shows a lot about our race team and how we prepare all of our cars. This place is awkward in a stock car. It’s big, flat and you can do your homework and study the car infront of you down the straightaway and then you’re really busy for 20 seconds and then you do your homework all over again, but it was definitely a really cool place to come to.”

 

The 15th place finish was the tenth top 15 finish out of the 2013 season. Bowman maintained the 11th place in driver point standings, and Robby Benton still occupies the 15th position in the owner point standings. The next race for RAB Racing and driver Alex Bowman will be the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday August, 3rd and will be televised live on ESPN 2.

 

RAB Racing PR