Clint Bowyer Charges to Victory Lane in Impala SS at Richmond to Claim his Second Career Win

Team Chevy Drivers Claim Five of Top-10 Finishing Positions in Crown Royal Presents Dan Lowry 400

Richmond, VA - Clint Bowyer, No. 07 BB&T Impala SS, snaked his way from third to first on lap 399 when the leader, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Impala SS, and the second place car made contact causing the final caution flag of the Crown Royal Presents Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Bowyer was in the right place and the right time and poised to pounce. The accident setup a green-white-checkered finish and the Emporia, Kansas native charged away from the field on the restart and crossed the finish line to claim his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) career victory.

Bowyer, who started 31st in the 43-car field, made his way to the top-10 by lap 100 of the scheduled 400-lap race and to the top-five by lap 180. Except for pit-stop cycles, the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver was never out of the top-five the remainder of the race.

He led one time for a total of 13 laps and jumped three positions in the NSCS standings to fourth.

A total of five Team Chevy drivers scored top-10 finishes in the 10th race of the NSCS season. Mark Martin, No. 8 U. S. Army Impala SS, finished third with his Dale Earnhardt, Inc. teammate Martin Truex, Jr., No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Impala SS taking the checkered flag in fifth.

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Impala SS, finished eighth followed by Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Impala SS in ninth.

Earnhardt, Jr., looked to be headed for his first points-paying victory since joining Hendrick Motorsports but the late race incident dropped him to 15th in the finishing order. He remains third in the standings.

Jeff Burton, No. 31 AT&T Impala SS, went in to the race leading the NSCS standings, but fought a loose race car most of the night and had to settle for 11th in the finishing order. Burton is now second in the standings, 18 points down from the leader.

Team Chevy drivers hold five of the top-12 positions in the NSCS standings with 16 races remaining before the start of the Chase.

Chevrolet continues to lead the NSCS Manufacturers' Cup standings by four points.

The NSCS moves to Darlington Raceway on May 10 for the running of the Dodge Challenger 500.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS – Finished 15th:

ON FAIRNESS RACING ROOM BY KYLE BUSCH: “Whether it is fair or not, he is going to need some security. I haven’t seen the replay, Tony, Jr. (Eury) said it looked like Kyle got loose underneath me. That happens. I wasn’t good on the bottom so I moved up to the top to run as good as I could up there. He had been running the bottom, so I figured we would race that out. It got a great run around one and two, and he nearly got by me. He gave me room off the outside of two so, I wouldn’t say that was intentional going in to three. Because if he had wanted to, he could have just thrown me in the fence off two. We had been racing each other earlier and had no problems. I have done that before. That is what happens if he got loose underneath me.

“The worst part about it, is that I have been priding myself on running good all year and I was in position for a win. I ran hard and got wrecked. I had a top-three car and should have finished in the top-three. So, I was going for the win. Just ended up on the hook today. Just disappointed.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE LAST COUPLE OF LAPS: “We weren’t that great on restarts and new tires. We had a run there where we had been running for a while and got the lead and was driving away. The No. 11 had the flat and parked on the race track. That was unfortunate. We ended up, on that restart, I ran the bottom through a couple of corners, Kyle (Busch) was beat me like that, because he could get to the outside and pin me down because I was tight. I moved to the top, I got a little deep in to one corner, and he almost cleared me off of two, but I got back side-by-side going in to three. I tried to run him pretty tight running up top, and he just ran in to me or got loose or whatever.”

JUST TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN: “I am pretty disappointed to say the least. I had a good race all night. I had a good top-three car most of the night. I just don’t like it, well, to me it is just disappointing to not get what you can get out of the race car. Me and Kyle got together down there, not sure why it happened or how it happened. But, it is definitely unfortunate for us.

“I am and have been preaching how good we have been running, We are sure happy about that.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS – Finished 9th:

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR FINISH? “I am. I thought we were about an 8th or 9th place car. There were a couple cars that had problems there at the end so maybe a 7th place car. We came in and got tires there and it was the right move, but some other guys took two (tires) and that kind of got ahead of us. From the start, to start 43rd, and go a lap down and have to get our lap back, I’m really proud of this DuPont Chevrolet team. That was a great battle; it was a great fight. It showed what we’re made of. To come home with a top 10 was good. We didn’t make a lot of gains in the points, but we didn’t lose anything. It was good momentum for our team. We needed this run.”

THERE WERE A LOT OF LOOSE RACE CARS, AND A RED FLAG, AND A LOT OF ACTION THERE AT THE END. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FROM YOUR VIEWPOINT? “Whew, I had my hands full. You just try to match yourself up against the competition. We started out and we were loose in and tight in the middle and loose off, and that’s a hard thing to fix. But we got it freed up in the middle and that’s when our car got better. And we made some moves and got to the front. A lot of guys were struggling with handling tonight. There at the end we weren’t as good as we needed to be but we were and 8th or 9th place car.”

WITH WHAT YOU AND STEVE LETARTE WERE TALKING ABOUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE, WAS IT ALMOST A MIRACLE TO GET A TOP 10? “Well, in a lot of ways, yeah because we went down a lap so early and I was giving it everything I had and the leaders just drove by me like I was standing still. And we just weren’t getting the cautions at the right time and then I just got by the No. 44 and the No. 00 and the caution came out and I was like man, that’s the first good thing that’s gone our way in a while. We were making gains on the car at that time and we really were better than a lot of guys we were racing around and we started driving to the front. It was pretty impressive that one time we drove from 30th up to about 15th or something. And I was really impressed with that run. We needed that.”

SOME PLACES WHERE YOU WERE GOOD LAST YEAR WITH THE NEW CAR, YOU HAVEN’T BEEN THIS YEAR. HOW DO YOU QUANTIFY WHERE YOU ARE WITH THE TEAM? “I know why it’s happening. It’s happening because Goodyear is changing tires on us a little bit so we’ve had to adjust to that. The competition has gotten better. If we come back the same, we’re going to be even worse than we are now. That’s just the way this sport is and how, really tough and competitive it is. Your competitors go to work when you’re good or when they’re not. And that’s what’s happened. And now we’re in the position that we have to go to work and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been testing a lot these last couple of weeks.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO DARLINGTON WHERE YOU’VE TESTED TWICE, IS THERE COME COMFORT IN THAT? “Yeah, I feel comfortable that we know what to expect with the tire. When you’re there in a tire test, you really don’t get to work on speed and making the car better and go faster. You’re just trying to test for Goodyear. But it gives you good data to work on back at the shop and I hope that it pays off for us.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER BOATS IMPALA – Finished 5th:

YOU MUST BE PLEASED WITH A TOP 5 RUN “Yeah, I’m real happy. I don’t think we were a fifth-place car by any means at the end, but at times throughout the race we were. So, I’m proud of the guys. They did a good job for me all night. The motor ran really good tonight. We just had to hang around. Finally at the end of one of these deals usually we’re one of the ones getting wrecked or blowing up or having all the unfortunate luck. I feel bad for the No. 11 (Hamlin). He was just the class of the field by far. It’s not often you get cars like that. So I feel a little bad for him. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my team and the job they did tonight.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 BB&T IMPALA SS – Winner:

WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN YOU HAD TO MAKE THE MOVE OF THE RACE TO AVOID THE TWO LEADERS WRECKING IN FRONT OF YOU? ‘They were just racing so hard there and you knew it was going to happen. I just took advantage of a misfortune right there. But I’m real happy for all these guys and for BB&T. She was fast all night long. I messed up in qualifying for these guys in starting in the back, but was able to bounce back so that was really good.”

YOU WERE ONE OF THE FEW CARS AND TEAMS THAT DID NOT MAKE MANY CHANGES TONIGHT. “I knew it was going to be better than we qualified for sure. But we just slowly marched to the front and it really didn’t take a whole lot. Things worked out for us tonight.

“This is just awesome, I just love this place. I really messed up in qualifying for these guys. We just dug deep and worked hard, and things worked out. We took advantage of a misfortune there up front, but I am just really happy for BB&T, the Chevrolet was fast all day. Jack Daniel’s, DIRECTV, everybody involved with this team, I just want to thank everybody. This is awesome.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL IMPALA SS, Finished 8th:

“We just weren’t very good tonight. We are going to have to try and figure some things out here. I think everyone was pretty loose at the start of the race. Todd (Berrier, crew chief) and the guys kept working on our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet to get it better. There was a point there about mid-race when we were pretty good and made some good moves to the top-three, but then the car just started going away again and we couldn’t seem to get it back. It was a decent points night for us, but we want to be running up front and contending for wins. I know everyone at RCR will continue to work hard on our program to get us where we need to be.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 8 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS – Finished 3rd:

“Well, you know, just really, really proud of Tony Gibson and the U.S. Army team, and just want to reiterate how much of a privilege it is for me to drive the car, be a part of Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

“I really want to see their faces in victory lane. I mean, they are right there. They are getting it done. You know, we were just one little whisker off of being able to get it done tonight. It was very close. But the car, we got off a little bit the middle of the race and lost some track position and then got the car back something better toward the end; not quite a hundred percent, but we got it better. It was tough out there.”

DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THE N0. 18 AND THE NO. 88? AND WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU EARLIER? “You know, I could see what was happening up there, but I was having to drive my own race car. So I can't describe it; I can't tell you exactly. And I didn't hear your second question. Just felt like some of the lap cars were disrespectful today, tonight, that's all.”

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 AT&T IMPALA SS – Finished 11th:

"We were loose for most of the race. We got caught up in the 11-car incident but was fortunate to escape with some minor fender damage. The AT&T team did a great job of fixing the car and getting it to where we can race. Although we finished 11th, we had a good points day. "

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 BB&T IMPALA SS
RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER, RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING
GIL MARTIN, CREW CHIEF, NO. 31 BB&T IMPALA SS

MODERATOR: We will go ahead and start with our race winner, the race winner tonight is Clint Bowyer of the No. 07 BB&T, and team owner Richard Childress, crew chief Gil Martin, congratulations, super finish, and you gave us a lot of excitement out there today.

This is Clint's second career NASCAR Nextel Cup, his first victory at Richmond, and, of course, he won that first Chase race last year at New Hampshire.

Clint, your thoughts about getting that victory tonight here at Richmond?

CLINT BOWYER: First off, qualifying, I really messed up to the guys and didn't give a good qualifying effort on my end and we started in the back. I knew we had a better race car than we qualified, and I knew we would be. I thought we were a Top?10 car, and then we became kind of a top-five car.

You know, the fastest car does not always win, and that was the case with the BB&T. We were fast all night, and once we were up there, we were able to run a lot better. You know, you've got to be able to be there for the taking, at least, and we were close enough to do just that. It was pretty wild out there. I think it was bound to happen. I think, you know, I was watching it and Richard was on the radio saying, "It's going to happen," and sure enough, it did happen.

MODERATOR: Clint has moved up into fourth place with his victory tonight. Richard, your thoughts about getting to victory lane again with this RCR program.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It feels good. It's when you have good preparation. That means opportunity, and he was prepared tonight, and the opportunity was there. If that's what you want to call it, he won by being there, and it was just a great race and I was just happy to be there. I'm happy for Jack Daniels and DIRECTV, both are great supporters of ours, and all the fans.

MODERATOR: We are also joined by crew chief Gil Martin. What did you see up there tonight atop the box?

GIL MARTIN: A lot of people may say we backed into the win when we started 31st and drove our way up to 17th, 16th on the first stop. We were coming all along and we just needed track position. And once we got up in clean air with everybody we could run with them different stages of the run.

Like Richard said, we had to capitalize on the situation, and I'm just glad we were there.

Q. Would you describe the incident that put you into the lead when Junior and Kyle got together.

CLINT BOWYER: Yeah, they were putting on a show for a while; I thought so, anyway. They were racing hard. That's what racing at Richmond is all about in my opinion. It just didn't work out. I told the cops, I don't know why they were escorting me in here. I told them, they better get on and escort Kyle Busch out of here. (Laughing.) It was meant to be, I guess.

Q. Congratulations. Might this be the most wide-open season we've had in a while? We've got the same top three or four teams are fast, but it seems like a lot of unpredictable things are happening. Is it about as wide open as it's been in recent years?

RICHARD CHILDRESS: I just think it's been some great racing this year, and I think this new car that we are running today, if you want to call it Car of Tomorrow; we like to call ours the Impala, but I think that probably plays a little role in it.

But it's just great racing, and Kyle and these guys, what they are doing is putting on a show, and people shouldn't be upset, because that's what they pay their money for is to see a great race.

It was just a great race tonight and we were able to capitalize. And just proud of the BB&T for team for what we did. Tonight Clint drove his butt off, and coming up the field, I've watched a lot of racing at this place and watching him be patient for the time he's driven; and for the way he was able to handle the car and be put in a couple of positions, he's just done a great job tonight, and I was really proud of him.

Q. How do you pace yourself starting 31st to being able to work your way all through the field and make yourself a contender? Also, Richard, you have three cars in the top five in points; how do you maintain that momentum going through the rest of the year and into the Chase?

CLINT BOWYER: You just have to be patient. We had a fast race car, but you know, too many times, I've seen people, and I've done it myself, push too hard, and spin their tires, and sooner or later deep into a run, you're really loose and don't have any forward drive and can't pass anybody underneath of them. That's the hardest thing.

Once you get going, you need all the track, especially like off of two, and you can roll under them, but when you're trying to hold the car off on the outside of you, you tend to spin the tires. Just being patient early in the run for it to be good, and deep into a run, that's something I've learned over the years here helping drive up through the field.

Q. Your thoughts about having three cars in the top five and how you're going to be able to maintain that throughout the rest of the season.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: It's real early in the season. Everybody just worked so hard at RCR this winter and we knew what we had to do, and we are still not where we really want to be with our program. And to be there right now feels good and to have them all up there.

You know, we know we have more work to do, and these guys, all our crew chiefs and drivers, everybody, just work their tails off every week to try to get better. Just proud of the whole organization for having us there.

Tonight watching Clint drive that car, a lot of it I think comes from his dirt track experience. I've got to say a couple of things. We had three winners, Shannon Babb won a big dirt race tonight, and my grandson won and Clint won tonight, really three.

CLINT BOWYER: We may get a fourth.

RICHARD CHILDRESS: Yeah, could be a big day.

Q. Do you consider this night to be another step in the evolution of this team during a long race career; you're going to have wins where you are the most dominant car or where you are not the most dominant car, but generally you have to be there at the end to have the opportunity to take advantage of these?

GIL MARTIN: I think so. Everybody doesn't win by leading laps all night. Things happen. It's a 400-lap race and from the beginning of the race, as far as the evolution of this team, I mean, I can't be more proud of this guy and how far he's come.

Tonight was a perfect example. At the start of the race we didn't have an ideal pit situation. We were having to come around the 84 and line up and stop short from the 6. He did a great job getting into the pit box and coming off pit road; that's little things people don't see during the race and how far he's come. You see what he's doing on the racetrack but just the little things that makes up the time, he's done that.

I think everybody in the shop has been supportive of him and our team. It's just we're such a tight group that, I mean, I expect a lot more of these to come, and if you're running up front, things like this will happen for you.

CLINT BOWYER: Yeah, it's certainly the case, last year we were the odd man out and getting into the Chase, we won that race and it just did so much momentum-wise and confidence. It doesn't matter what you do in life, if you have a little confidence and momentum on your side, the sky's the limit and that's certainly what it did in the Chase. I think it's going to do that same thing now.