Bowyer Wins First Checkers of 2008

It should be of little surprise to most fans considering what we’ve already endured in this 2008 NASCAR season, but after running only 171 laps in the Mini-Sharpie 300 today, NASCAR officials stopped the race and made it official due to heavy rain. Clint Bowyer picked up his first win of the season after leading 126 laps, though even he admitted that the best car on the track was the no. 9 of Kasey Kahne.

Bowyer and Kahne raced each other for a good forty-plus laps, but Kahne did all he could to lay off Clint’s bumper, and in the end that proved to be the deciding factor. NASCAR called their seventh and final caution of the day on lap 164 due to a very light mist falling on the track, and eight cars opted not to pit – including Bowyer and Kahne. After running seven laps under caution, officials dropped the red flag, and about forty-five minutes later they officially called it. The win was enough to bump Bowyer up to second place in the Nationwide Series standings. David Reutimann, Brad Keselowski, and Mike Bliss completed the top-five.

Kevin Harvick – the current series leader – was running with the front pack of cars until his tire changers failed to secure a lugnut during a pit stop on lap 101, forcing him to comeback through the pits. The mistake shuffled him back to 19th, but he was able to work his way back up to 7th by the end of the race.  Martin Truex Jr. spun on in turn 3 just 13 laps into the race and collected the no. 32 of Kyle Busch in the process. The incident ended the day for both cars, much to the dismay of Busch who entered the race third in the points standings. He’s now in tenth.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):