RICHMOND, Va. – On a day that looked destined to belong to hometown hero Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman pulled off a show-stopping victory in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.

After starting the day deep in the field and a late penalty for an uncontrolled tire, Bowman was able to overcome adversity following a late restart, making the winning move with 10 laps to go and going on to his third career NASCAR Cup Series win.

All day long, it was apparent that Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyotas were the cars to beat. Point leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin took charge of the race’s first stage, as polesitter Truex led the race’s opening 30 laps before the competition caution.

During the ensuing round of pit stops, the lead traded hands as Hamlin’s crew put their driver out front with a stellar pit stop. In clean air, Hamlin went on to lead the stage’s remaining 50 laps despite brief challenges from both Joey Logano and Truex.

Coming to the restart for stage two, it was again the Gibbs duo of Hamlin and Truex leading the charge. Hamlin shot out to the lead early, clearing Truex off the jump, but his lead would be short lived.

Truex applied pressure to the rear of Hamlin’s bumper lap after lap before finally making his move back to the top spot on lap 104. Green flag pit stops began around lap 135, with most of the leaders making their way down pit road with a select few staying out in hopes of catching a well-timed caution.

On lap 140, with only six cars yet to make a pit stop, the race was turned on its head as a single-car spin in turn three by Ryan Newman brought out the day’s third caution flag, trapping most of the field a lap down.

Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick, Corey Lajoie and Daniel Suarez – having stayed out on the track – were able to leapfrog some of the race’s heavy hitters, forcing them to take a wave around and trapping them in traffic.

Others such Hamlin, Truex and Bowman were able to un-lap themselves before the caution came out, keeping them in charge of the race.

Stage two restarted on lap 147 with Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick making up the front row. Truex wasted no time opening up a lead before beginning to complain of brake shake on his No. 19 Toyota Camry.

Truex slowly began to fade but was able to maintain the lead for a good portion of the stage, leading 106 laps until Hamlin got in front of Truex during another round of green flag pit stops on lap 183.

As pit stops cycled through, Keselowski found himself playing the strategy game a second time. Rolling the dice, Keselowski and his Team Penske crew left the No. 2 Ford Mustang on track limping on worn tires for the remainder of stage two, a moving chicane compared to the rest of the field.

The gamble proved to be Keselowski’s undoing as Hamlin blew past Keselowski once for the race lead and eventual stage win, then again just a few laps later, lapping Keselowski at the conclusion of stage two and effectively ending Keselowski’s chances of a win.

At the second stage break, Hamlin looked poised to make a strong run towards the checkered flag in front of his hometown crowd. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bowman found himself at the tail end of the field due to a pit road violation.

The final stage took the green flag on lap 247, with Hamlin and Truex in control of the race. Hamlin again fired off and took to an early lead that gave him control, holding off a brief challenge from Logano.

The race rolled on quickly from there, with green flag pit stops coming once again on lap 290. Bowman was the first driver down pit road, looking to take fresh tires and gain some lost time following his earlier penalty.

Meanwhile, Hamlin pitted on lap 293, retaining the race lead. In contrast, Truex met his demise a lap later as the recipient of a pit road speeding penalty. Hamlin continued to dominate the race until lap 334, when Logano mounted a charge and took the race lead with 66 laps to go.

As one contender fell after another, the race looked to be between Logano and Hamlin barring disaster.

With the race entering its closing 30 laps, Hamlin began applying pressure to Logano for the lead, the two running bumper to bumper and side by side.

However, disaster struck for the race leaders in the form of Kevin Harvick shredding a rear tire and pounding the outside wall, resetting the field and setting up a dash to the finish.

Hamlin’s team jumped ahead of Logano after pit stops, while Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives tuned their No. 48 Chevrolet up for a short run to the finish and found themselves on the leaders’ bumpers coming to the lap-388 restart.

Hamlin jumped out to an easy lead on the restart, clearing Logano and Bowman off turn two. The field stormed around to take 11 laps to go, when seemingly out of nowhere, a massive run down the front stretch propelled Bowman to the inside of Hamlin into turn one.

The two battled side by side before Hamlin yielded the lead to Bowman off turn four with 10 to go.

Hamlin was never able to get back to Bowman’s bumper, despite heavy traffic briefly impeding Bowman’s progress. Bowman went on to the win over Hamlin, Logano, Christopher Bell and Truex.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action April 25 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Race results from the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400, held April 18, 2021 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway:

1. (24)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.
2. (2)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
3. (5)  Joey Logano, Ford, 400.
4. (8)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
5. (1)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 400.
6. (22)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 400.
7. (4)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
8. (10)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400.
9. (16)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 400.
10. (11)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400.
11. (7)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
12. (3)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
13. (17)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 400.
14. (20)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
15. (18)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 399.
16. (27)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 399.
17. (14)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 399.
18. (6)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 398.
19. (30)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 398.
20. (13)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 398.
21. (36)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 398.
22. (26)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 398.
23. (21)  Cole Custer, Ford, 398.
24. (9)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 397.
25. (12)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 397.
26. (15)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 397.
27. (23)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 396.
28. (38)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 396.
29. (25)  Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 396.
30. (19)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 395.
31. (29)  Anthony Alfredo, Ford, 395.
32. (35)  BJ McLeod, Ford, 393.
33. (28)  James Davison, Chevrolet, 390.
34. (32)  Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 390.
35. (37)  Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 389.
36. (33)  Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 385.
37. (31)  Josh Bilicki, Ford, 384.
38. (34)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Engine, 1.