Bowyer wins in Richmond
Saturday, May 3, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Denny Hamlin appeared headed toward an easy victory. Then, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed poised to snap his two-year losing streak.
In the end, surprise winner Clint Bowyer celebrated in Victory Lane, stealing a victory Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway that ended in wild fashion.
Hamlin, the hometown favorite, ran away with the race and led a record 381 of the 400 laps in search of his first Cup victory at Richmond. Nobody came close to challenging him until a leaking right front tire allowed Earnhardt and Kyle Busch to catch him.
The two drivers split Hamlin as they moved past him, with Earnhardt emerging as the leader with 18 laps to go. Hamlin's tire finally failed with eight to go, and NASCAR accused him of intentionally bringing out the caution that regrouped the field.
Earnhardt and Busch staged a strong battle for the lead when the race resumed, but Busch and Earnhardt made contact in turn three that sent Earnhardt into the wall.
"Just a bummer deal," Busch shrugged. "We were both racing hard there."
"Whether it was fair or not, he's going to need security," Earnhardt lamented.
Bowyer used the opportunity to slide past both Earnhardt and Busch and into the front for the first time all night. Bowyer then held off Busch on a final restart to score his first Cup victory of the season, second of his career.
Busch finished second, then was confronted on pit road by his former crew members at Hendrick Motorsports. Busch spent three years driving for Hendrick, but was replaced by Earnhardt this season.
Mark Martin finished a season-best third and was followed by Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10.
Earnhardt finished 15th and Hamlin was a disappointing 24th after nearly routing the field.
Hamlin was seeking a weekend sweep — he won Friday night's Nationwide Series race — in front of a boisterous crowd of friends and family thrilled to see him finally accomplish his dream.
He grew up just outside of Richmond in Chesterfield, and his family had season tickets to the track, where he sat in the Turn 4 stands cheering on favorite driver Bill Elliott. His parents mortgaged just about everything they owned to fund his racing career, all in the hopes he'd someday reach Richmond's Victory Lane.
Hamlin was comfortable on the track the very first day he raced here, and in four previous starts, he had three top-10 finishes.
But it was the win he was looking for. After winning the pole Friday, he said earning that top starting spot was the highlight of his career. Then he one-upped himself with the Nationwide win.
He still wanted the Cup win, and had it locked up until the flat tire.
The race was stopped for nearly 22 minutes a little past the halfway point when contact between Dave Blaney, J.J. Yeley and Edwards triggered a 12-car accident. Among those caught in the wreckage was points leader Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Newman and Kurt Busch.
Michael Waltrip was parked by NASCAR with 45 laps to go for intentionally driving into Casey Mears after the two made contact moments earlier.
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Congrats Clint, Gil and crew, great job!
May 3, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
Go Clint,Go! Smooth,consistent,steady and let'em beat themselves! I hope the neighbors didn't mind the 2,000 watt PA cranked up in Americus for the race....... wow! Then again,I've never worried about the neighbors!
May 4, 2008 at 3:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
Well,I do bribe them with really good BBQ,so they don't complain about the noise too much....
May 4, 2008 at 4:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Americus neighbors not complaining? Yeah right. They're abusing their voodoo dolls of you right now and whining about the Police not doing their job most likely.
May 4, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zeepmonk (anonymous) says...
Congrats Clint - you ran an awsome race. I just wish the news media gave you more credit for the great job you do. I clicked on this news story link thinking it would be about you only to find that you are only mentioned in two paragraphs.
You would think that the hometown paper would do a much better job of telling your story.
And to say that you "stole" the victory? While being in the right place at the right time did play a part - I'd say driving from 31st to 1st shows you have skills.
Maybe the hometown paper will do a better job some day instead of the canned stories it prints about other drivers.
May 4, 2008 at 8:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
A win is a win no matter how you do it!!!! I'm just glad to see Busch gets the negative press he truly deserves.
May 5, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Iloveemporia (anonymous) says...
"Bowyer used the opportunity to slide past both Earnhardt and Busch and into the front for the first time all night. Bowyer then held off Busch on a final restart to score his first Cup victory of the season, second of his career" is this true all the hype about a guy who has won 2 in his two year career thats like 72 races.
either way good job and win some more
May 5, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Deepthoughts (anonymous) says...
Congratulations Clint!
Iloveemporia - some drivers go entire seasons without a win, but that doesn't mean they are bad drivers. There are all kinds of variables having to do with motors, tires, cautions, wrecks, etc. where a driver might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get knocked out of the entire race, so a win is huge. From what I've seen, consistency is what helps to land a driver in the Chase for the Cup. As much as they all want to win each race, a top 5 and top 10 finish aren't bad. I've only been a Nascar fan for about 3 years now, so these are just observations I have made.
May 5, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Iloveemporia (anonymous) says...
either way good job and win some more
May 6, 2008 at 10:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )