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Clint Bowyer was on a mission Saturday—to rejuvenate the Nationwide Series program of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Chevrolet.
Mission accomplished. After passing pole-sitter Kyle Busch for the lead on Lap 118 at Dover International Speedway, Bowyer led the final 83 laps of the Dover 200 and beat Mike Bliss to the finish line by 1.319 seconds to win his second Nationwide race of the season and the eighth of his career. NASCAR
The threat of rain hung over the race all day, but for the first half of the event, it didn’t look like it was going to matter when – or if – it started raining, because Kyle Busch’s No. 18 NOS Toyota was in charge. The series points leader put the pedal down at the opening green flag and left everyone in his wake for the first 83 laps until the first round of pit stops came around. He yielded the lead for a handful of laps during the pit cycle, but quickly regained the lead and built a 5.4-second cushion.
The race ran green until lap 109, when the first caution flag flew. It might as well have been aimed at Busch, because it spelled the end to his dominance. Meanwhile, Bowyer’s crew loosened up his car a bit, giving him what he needed to reel in Busch on the restart. Bowyer finally passed Busch on lap 120 and wouldn’t let go of the lead the rest of the way.
“I knew what we put in before the race to compensate because we were so loose in qualifying,” Bowyer said. “And it was too tight. So we pulled it back out and ran it like we did in practice. Once we got the car back the way we were in practice, it was go-cat-go from there.”
While Bowyer has not won a Cup race this season, this was his second Nationwide win of the season; his second career win at Dover and eighth Nationwide win of his career. Kansas City Star
His celebration was ignored as all attention turned to a brief, but heated, confrontation on pit road between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. They made contact late in the race, sending Hamlin to the garage. Keselowski finished third and was greeted when he got out of his car by an angry Hamlin.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Dover 200 - Race Results
They exchanged words, and Hamlin shoved Keselowski. Keselowski’s public relations rep shoved Hamlin. The crews for both drivers got between the drivers. Keselowski crew chief Tony Eury Jr. ended it after a brief chat with Hamlin. Boston Herald
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Busch, who failed to make the Chase in the Cup series, kept his overall lead in the points standings. He also became the second driver in the second-tier series to ever lead 2,000 laps in a season. He led 109 laps at Dover.
He refused to blame the radio woes for his finish.
“I think it was just a set of mismatched tires, unfortunately there,” he said. “The tires just threw us for a loop. Unfortunately, we didn’t adjust right to what we had with the tires.” MiamiHerald.com
