Clint Bowyer ends Nationwide Series drought for Richard Childress Racing
Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Richard Childress Racing has had a difficult season in 2009, but driver Clint Bowyer was able to celebrate Friday night by winning the Subway Jalapeno 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
RCR has not won in Sprint Cup this season and hasn’t won in the Nationwide Series since March 2008, when former driver Scott Wimmer went to victory lane at Nashville Superspeedway.
But Bowyer was the dominant car at Daytona, holding off fellow Sprint Cup drivers Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards on a restart for a green-white-checkered finish. The restart was double file for lead-lap cars, the first time NASCAR has used the new double-file restart rule in the series.
Bowyer chose the inside line for the final restart, and Busch pushed him ahead of second-place Edwards as the field headed into Turn 1.
By the time Bowyer took the white flag, he was ahead of Busch as several cars crashed off Turn 4, causing the field to be frozen and giving Bowyer his seventh career victory and his first in a restrictor-plate race.
Busch finished second for Joe Gibbs Racing and extended his series point lead to 172 over Roush Fenway Racing’s Edwards, who finished third.
Busch’s teammate, Joey Logano, was fourth, with Braun Racing’s Kasey Kahne fifth.
Sixth through 10th were Brad Keselowski (JR Motorsports), Brian Vickers (Braun), Justin Allgaier (Penske Racing), David Ragan (Roush Fenway) and Kevin Harvick (Kevin Harvick Inc.)
Bowyer won the pole earlier Friday and led three times for 48 laps, twice as many as any other driver.
