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Clint Bowyer Blows Away The Field In New Hampshire

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2007

LOUDON, N.H. - A lot of people questioned whether Clint Bowyer belonged in the Chase for the Championship.

Question answered.

With a performance so dominant that second- and third-place finishers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart couldn't stop joking about how far ahead he was, Bowyer blew to his first Nextel Cup victory Sunday in the Chase opener at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Bowyer led 222 of the 300 laps of the Sylvania 300 after starting on the pole and beat Gordon by 6.469 seconds, the second-largest margin of victory in 26 Cup races held at New Hampshire.

And while the second-year driver from Kansas remains a dark horse for the championship, the victory has lifted him from 12th place to fourth, 15 points behind Gordon and Johnson, who are now tied for first with 5,210 points (although Johnson holds a tiebreaker advantage).

'I read all the magazines, the articles, and I tell you ... it's kind of fuel for the fire, so to speak,' Bowyer said. 'It makes you want to come and win and run up front and prove to the media and everybody else that you belong here.'

On a day in which Chasers swept the top seven spots and only Kurt Busch among the 12 finished outside the top 20 - he was 25th with a carburetor problem - Bowyer had a Richard Childress Racing Chevy nobody could touch.

Even with his car getting tight during the last 50 laps and the setting sun bothering his vision, Bowyer kept Gordon and Stewart well behind him. He had such a comfortable lead in the closing laps that teammate Kevin Harvick sent word to spotter Mike Dillon to have him back off a little.

Richard Childress, the man who took a chance on Bowyer four years ago after watching him finish second in an ARCA race at Nashville, didn't get to see the win because he was hunting in Mongolia.

'Who knows where he's at,' Bowyer said, laughing. 'That man goes to some pretty crazy places, and just pray he comes back safe.'

Stewart and fourth-place finisher Kyle Busch were the only other drivers to lead more than a handful of laps, with Stewart holding the point once for 39 laps and Busch once for 21. Gordon ran in the top five most of the day but never led a lap.

Nobody had anything for Bowyer when it mattered.

'I think everybody is happy for Clint,' Gordon said. 'When we were up in New York, it seemed like everyone was like, 'Clint Bowyer, he doesn't have a shot at the championship.' I think today was a real statement for him and I think it just proves that anybody in the top 12 can win this championship.'

Stewart said Bowyer was so far ahead of him, he couldn't even catch up to him on the victory lap to offer congratulations.

Bowyer's domination set the tone for a race that was devoid of the drama and calamity that have characterized previous Chase races at New Hampshire - especially those in 2004 and 2005.

Although there were a few minor spins and crashes, all 43 drivers finished. It's the first time that has happened since NASCAR mandated 43-car starting fields for all races in 1998.

After Gordon, Stewart and Kyle Busch, fellow Chasers Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth finished fifth through seventh. Carl Edwards finished 12th, Denny Hamlin 15th, Kevin Harvick 17th and Jeff Burton 18th.

Gordon, who led the standings most of the year until being seeded second because he had two fewer wins than Johnson, made up his 20-point deficit by finishing four spots better than Johnson. It was Gordon's 16th top-five finish in what has easily been his best season since his he won his fourth championship in 2001.

Stewart, the only driver with championships under NASCAR's old system and in the Chase, started the Chase 30 points out and pulled to within 10 Sunday. Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Truex also will go to next week's race at Dover within 50 points of the lead.

Johnson's sixth-place finish, though far better than his 39th-place result at New Hampshire last year, was a disappointment to crew chief Chad Knaus.

'We set goals to finish in the top five,' he said. 'We're a little disappointed with finishing sixth. But the guys did a good job. ... I didn't do a very good job of adjusting the car today. So we weren't able to get that top five.'

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