Right place, right time: How Alex Bowman won Las Vegas

After he came from the rear, spun during the race and hit the wall another time in his backup car, Kyle Busch was on the verge of winning Sunday’s Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Then a late caution sent the race into overtime. What happened next ended Busch’s hopes of winning a Cup race for an 18th consecutive season, which would tie Richard Petty for the longest streak in NASCAR history.

Frustrated, Busch unleashed a torrent of expletives after seeing Alex Bowman nab another race with late theatrics. 

“The same (expletive) guy that backs into every (expletive) win that he ever (expletive) gets, backs into another (expletive) win. (Expletive)! (Expletive)!”

But did Bowman, who rallied from a pit road penalty on Lap 136 of the 274-lap race, really back into this win?

Yes, pit strategy played into Bowman’s hands, but every team could have made the same decision.

As the caution came out to send the race into overtime, crew chief Greg Ives thought back to this race two years ago. Bowman was second when the caution came out in the final laps. He was among those who pitted, but a few cars did not pit. Bowman got shuffled back after the restart and finished 13th.

“I’ve been prepared since 2020 for this one,” Ives said, alluding to what he called a “wrong call.”

This time, Bowman was fourth when the caution came out for the final time, trailing Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Ross Chastain. 

Much of the field had run at least 47 laps on their set of tires (Bowman had run 48 laps), so everyone would pit for tires. While the natural decision was to take four tires, Ives knew that teammate Kyle Larson, who entered pit road sixth, likely would only take two tires. 

Having won last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, Larson and