Bowyer’s Atlanta performance means easier night at Richmond

Bowyer’s Atlanta performance means easier night at Richmond


Clint Bowyer and his No. 33 crew could have panicked Sunday night.
As night fell over Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bowyer’s car developed a loose handling condition. After a lengthy pit stop under caution on Lap 202, the No. 33 Chevrolet was 21st, the last car on the lead lap, with all three drivers trying to knock Bowyer out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray and Mark Martin—ahead of him.
A determined drive by Bowyer, coupled with quick work by his pit crew in the last third of the race, produced a seventh-place finish and ample breathing space entering Saturday’s final event of series’ regular season at Richmond.
“That is absolutely what we needed,” a relieved Bowyer said after the race. “Man, I’ll tell you, it was a hard-fought battle. The guys kept digging and kept digging. It was good in the daytime. As soon as it went to night, it got really, really loose—just way down on grip.
“They kept adjusting on it and never gave up. The guys in the pits, they got us back up there where we needed to be. I’m real proud of them. … Not what we wanted, but darn sure what we needed.”
As far as the Chase goes, Bowyer’s gritty performance went a long way toward removing suspense from race No. 26, which typically is a gut-wrencher for those on the Chase bubble. Last year, the battle for the last Chase position between Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch wasn’t settled until the final lap, when Vickers finished sixth to Busch’s eighth and earned the spot by eight points.
Entering Richmond this year, 10 drivers already are locked into the Chase. Greg Biffle, in 11th place, needs a 42nd-place finish to secure his berth, so as soon as the first start-and-park parks, he’s in. Bowyer, in 12th, leads Newman by 117 points and McMurray by 128 and needs no more than a 28th-place finish to eliminate Newman and clinch the final spot.
The good news for Bowyer is that Richmond is one of his best tracks. In nine starts there, he has a victory and seven other finishes of 12th or better. His worst result, in last year’s spring race, is 18th. Barring a catastrophe in the form of a blown engine or crippling wreck, Bowyer should earn his place in the Chase.
No doubt Bowyer will have trouble sleeping as the weekend approaches, but by keeping his head and finishing in the top 10 at Atlanta, he made his job much easier.
The lack of drama as to Chase qualifiers will return our focus to the race itself, and that’s not a bad thing. For those already locked in, a win is the only thing that can change their seeding for the Chase.
“We’ll just go for it,” said Carl Edwards, runner-up to Tony Stewart on Sunday night. “We’ll probably just go there and go for the win and don’t have too much to be concerned about, other than that particular race. So for me, it will just be a fun race.”
If it’s half the show Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne staged while battling for the lead for a dozen laps late in Sunday night’s race, fans won’t pay much attention to the Chase implications for the three drivers still in limbo.
After all, a checkers-or-wreckers, all-star race approach is what fans hope to see when they shell out good money for a race ticket.

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service