Clint Bowyer claims Nationwide title over Homestead winner Carl Edwards
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Clint Bowyer’s 56-point cushion entering the season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway was enough for him to capture his first NASCAR national touring series crown Saturday night.
Bowyer clinched the NASCAR Nationwide Series title with a fifth-place finish, which allowed him to end the year 21 points ahead of defending series champion Carl Edwards.
“It’s just incredible,” Bowyer said. “I’m so excited for everybody."
Edwards won the race, his seventh win of the season, but the Roush Fenway Racing driver couldn’t do enough to catch Richard Childress Racing’s Bowyer.
"That's a great win, to hold off the 18 [of Kyle Busch] as strong as he's been all season," said Edwards, who congratulated Bowyer on his championship. "If I've got to get beat by somebody, a dirt racer from [Bowyer hometown] Emporia, Kansas, is one of the best.
"But we'll be back next year, and I hope Clint will, too. There's no shame in giving 100 percent and finishing second. That's all we could do."
Bowyer won the title with 29 top-10 finishes in the 35 races, which compensated for his winning only one race on the way to the title. He finished in the top five Saturday by holding on to fifth over a final four-lap dash to the finish following a late caution.
"We always have to go through that last scare before the glory," Bowyer said. "That's what championships are made out of."
While Bowyer won the title, his team didn’t win the owners championship. That went to the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which got a 10th-place finish from Joey Logano to beat Bowyer’s team by 12 points.
The No. 20 team used several drivers this year. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Logano have all driven the car.
JR Motorsports’ Landon Cassill was crowned as the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
The top 10 drivers will attend the series awards banquet next Saturday. Following Bowyer and Edwards in the standings were Brad Keselowski (338 points behind Bowyer), David Ragan (-607), Mike Bliss (-614), Kyle Busch (-671), David Reutimann (-744), Mike Wallace (-1,004), Jason Leffler (-1,046) and Marcos Ambrose (-1,141).
