FONTANA, Calif. - Before Alex Bowman started looking for tattoo shops somewhere between Los Angeles and Phoenix, he celebrated a win that suggested even more permanent success ahead for the hard-working NASCAR driver and his resurgent team.
Bowman raced to the second win of his Cup Series career Sunday, holding off Kyle and Kurt Busch at Auto Club Speedway.
The victory was the culmination of a tremendously encouraging weekend for Bowman, who has run 156 races on the top-tier circuit without extraordinary success and is in the final year of his contract with Hendrick Motorsports.
His No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro felt like the fastest car on this weathered, wide asphalt from the moment they unloaded it last week, though, and Bowman decisively proved he knew what to do with it.
"We've been so good to start this season," the 26-year-old Arizona native said. "We've got to go win a bunch more, but man, it feels good to have one this early."
Bowman's future might be uncertain, but he's fine with it after this dominant performance in Fontana. He led 110 laps on the 2-mile D-shaped oval, managing to stay out front after the final pit stops before cruising to the checkered flag in a smooth, fairly uneventful race with only one caution outside of the stage breaks.
"There's never a situation that I feel completely comfortable in," Bowman said. "I feel like if somebody doesn't want you driving their race car, you're not going to be driving it. Hendrick Motorsports is where I want to be. It's where I want to stay for the rest of my career. It's where I've always wanted to be. It is a contract year, but every year of my career has been a contract year."
Bowman, who grew up racing almost weekly in nearby Pomona, collected the oversized surfboard trophy for Sunday's race and partied with his team. However, he also thought ahead with trepidation to the "88" tattoo he'll have to get soon because of a pact with Aaron Gillespie, a friend who is the drummer for metalcore band Underoath.
"We made a bet at Daytona," Bowman said with a grimace. "We've been talking about it for the last two weeks. Apparently I have to get a neck tattoo, which I'm not real sure if that's going to happen or not. But yeah, next time we're all together, I guess we're all going to get tattoos."
AP photo by Will Lester / NASCAR driver Alex Bowman stands on the roof of his car after winning Sunday's Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.Kyle Busch, the reigning Cup Series champion who was trying to repeat as this race's winner, was 8.9 seconds behind in second place in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. His older brother Kurt was third in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevy, Hendrick's Chase Elliott was fourth, Team Penske's Brad Keselowski was fifth in the highest-finishing Ford and JGR's Denny Hamlin was sixth.
Jimmie Johnson, who holds the track record with six Cup Series wins, finished seventh after running near the front for most of his final race as a full-time driver at the NASCAR track closest to his native El Cajon, California, about 100 miles away. His winless streak is at a career-worst 98 races, but the 44-year-old Hendrick driver showed impressive pace before his teammate took charge of the race.
"Our team is going in the right direction. We just faded too much at the end," said Johnson, who earned his record-tying seventh Cup Series season championship in 2016, won three races the next season and hasn't been to victory lane in a points race since.
"We just faded too much at the end. I thought I was going to blow a tire, but we salvaged a top 10 out of it. It's a huge thing for us out here in California. There's been great vibes the whole weekend."
Johnson started on the front row at the track where he got the first win of his Cup Series career in 2002, and the weekend featured several tributes to him, including a five-wide salute during the warmup laps. Johnson's wife and daughters waved the green flag to start the race.
"It was super special for me," Johnson said. "I'm just grateful to the track."
Hamlin, the Daytona 500 winner last month, had to start at the back after his crew changed a shock absorber before the race. He then put Kyle Larson into the wall during the first stage with a bump from behind, and the Ganassi No. 42 Chevy needed significant repairs.
The crew chiefs of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece were ejected after NASCAR found illegal body modifications on their cars, which had to drop to the rear on the pace laps.
Ryan Blaney is the overall points leader even after finishing 19th Sunday, when he led 54 laps and was in contention to chase down Bowman before he was forced to the pits with three laps left because of a tire problem.
Blaney's performance was particularly sweet because it came with the Penske No. 12 Ford painted purple and gold in honor of Kobe Bryant. The late Los Angeles Lakers superstar was an early investor in BodyArmor, one of Blaney's sponsors.
SHR's Clint Bowyer finished 23rd after starting on the pole. That's a typical hazard in Fontana, where the cars that perform best in qualifying frequently aren't set up to excel in the race. Bowyer is still a solid 13th in the overall points race for the Cup Series, which heads next to Phoenix Raceway for a key stop.
For the first time, the Arizona track will be the site of the season finale on Nov. 8.