Kansas City, Kan. — Clint Bowyer just wanted it too much on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Last year, he was close, finishing in second place, although he crossed the finish line before Greg Biffle, who was was given the win. Then on Saturday in the Nationwide race, he finished second again.
Second is nice and all when you’re racing somewhere else. But not here at Kansas.
Kansas City, after all, was really where it all started. Bowyer won race after race just down the road at Lakeside Speedway and he started to make a name for himself. On the way back to Emporia every Friday night, he would pass Kansas Speedway and dream of some day winning races there.
With most his friends and family in attendance on Sunday, Bowyer was so anxious to finally get that win that when the green flag dropped at the start of the race, he passed Kyle Petty on the outside before he crossed the starting line. He was black flagged, forced to go to the back of the field.
“The 45 was slow getting going and I just went around him,” Bowyer said. “You’re not supposed to do that.”
You’re also not supposed to speed on pit road, but on lap 219 with the race under caution, Bowyer sped onto and out of pit road and was caught. He was sent to the back again, and went from sixth place to 17th.
“I didn’t think I was speeding,” Bowyer said. “Usually, I never get caught speeding. I always watch everybody else. I guess today was the day I got caught. I don’t know what I did any different... I guess I just looked up, glanced up or something and just caught me with my pants down.”
After the mishap at the start, Bowyer had plenty of time to make up for lost ground and he made it all the way to third. But after the pit road penalty, there just weren’t enough laps left, and Bowyer had to settle for a 12th place finish.
“I made mistakes today and it bit us,” he said. “Yesterday was a good day in the Nationwide car and today was a good day. We had a fast car. We tried hard. I just tried too hard and kept making mistakes.”
The 12th-place finish was also disappointing for Bowyer because he fell one spot to seventh in the Chase for the Championship point standings. All six drivers ahead of him in the points also finished ahead of him in the race, and Jeff Gordon, who finished fourth, jumped two spots to pass Bowyer. Without the mistakes, he might have made a similar leap.
“We had a top five car,” Bowyer said. “We should have finished top five with it. I just was trying to make something that wasn’t there be there and I made mistakes.”
Bowyer can take satisfaction in the fact that he leaves Kansas with his points lead in the Nationwide still intact. He even added 10 points to his lead over Carl Edwards on Saturday. Edwards finished fourth and trails Bowyer by 196 points with five races to go.
Edwards, a Columbia, Mo. native, was also looking to win at the place he considers his home track. Edwards passed Jimmie Johnson on the final lap, driving hard into the final turn, sliding up the track in front of Johnson, a move he learned on the dirt tracks in Missouri. Edwards slid into the wall and Johnson won the race.
“That last lap, I figured hell with it,” Edwards said. “I don’t want to finish second here, I want to win this race more than anything in the world, so I kind of bonsaied it in there... I’m sure for a second, Jimmie thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to win this thing.’ Nope, physics win again.”
For Edwards and Bowyer, they’ll have to wait another year to win in front of their hometown fans.
“You just try as hard as you can for them,” Bowyer said. “I’m really grateful for all the Emporians who came up to watch me and support me. I gave them my all. I just kept making mistakes and paid for them.”
Camping World RV 400 results
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Carl Edwards
3. Greg Biffle
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Matt Kenseth
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Jeff Burton
8. David Ragan
9. AJ Allmendinger
10. Elliott Sadler
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. Casey Mears
15. Brian Vickers
16. Ryan Newman
17. Jamie McMurray
18. Mark Martin
19. David Reutimann
20. Juan Pablo Montoya
21. Kasey Kahne
22. David Gilliland
23. Tony Raines
24. Bobby Labonte
25. Bill Elliott
26. Reed Sorenson
27. Paul Menard
28. Kyle Busch
29. Patrick Carpentier
30. Kurt Busch
31. Dave Blaney
32. Regan Smith
33. Sam Hornish Jr.
34. Travis Kvapil
35. Michael Waltrip
36. Marcos Ambrose
37. Robby Gordon
38. Joe Nemechek
39. Joey Logano
40. Tony Stewart
41. Kyle Petty
42. Scott Riggs
43. Martin Truex Jr.