NASCAR Busch Series: Bowyer Wins Circuit City 250

Carl Edwards leads the Series Championship with 1793 points, 402 in front of defending champion Kevin Harvick.

Photo courtesy: rir.com

RICHMOND, VA - Clint Bowyer won a thrilling Circuit City 250 Presented by FUNAI, by 1.4 seconds, beating out Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, defending race winner and series champion Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in a run to the checked flag following a late race caution.

Electing to take 4 tires like all the other leaders, Bowyer moved up three places on his last stop, thanks to quick work by his Richard Childress Racing crew.

Said winner Bowyer, "It’s a true testament to how strong the RCR program is. We struggled on the short runs. On longer runs, we got better and better and better. I knew Matt and Jeff were going to make their cars better and I knew we had to make a good call in the end to beat those guys."

Second place finisher Kenseth said, “There was a lot of good racing, side-by-side racing, tonight. I struggled most of the night. I just couldn’t get to the leader.”

A philosophical Jeff Burton said, “We just weren’t as good late in the race as we were in the beginning. It was a great day for us. It’s great to be disappointed with 3^rd . I just didn’t give my team the right information to make the car better in the end.”

Kyle Busch apparently forgetting how he barrel rolled down the front straight at Talladega, said, “That was our toughest race of the year.”

The racers of the NASCAR Busch Series got off to a rough start in Friday’s Circuit City 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

Local favorite Denny Hamlin of Chesterfield, Virginia lead the field to the green flag “Under the Lights”.

Within the first 25 laps, there were three caution periods for accidents. Busch Series Rookie and defending Indy 500 and Indy Racing League Champion Sam Hornish was the initiator of the second yellow flag period when he spun and hit the wall in turn 2.

Hamlin threw away any chance of a strong finish when he misjudged Matt Kenseth’s position on the racetrack.

Coming off turn 2 on the low side, Hamlin moved up towards the wall, clipping the nose of Kenseth’s Ford. Hamlin’s Chevrolet was too damaged to continue.

Bowyer showed everyone he was a serious contender when he took the lead for the first time on lap 74, passing early leader and South Boston, Virginia native Jeff Burton.

The 4th caution of the evening had all the leaders heading for pit road for their first round of pit stops.

Burton’s RCR crew got him out in front again. Burton would not give up the lead until Kenseth wrestled it away from him on lap 167.

Burton then lost ground to leader Kenseth as the Virginian’s Chevrolet began losing rear end grip. Never far behind was Bowyer in third.

As the race began to wind down, it appeared that Matt Kenseth was going to cruise to a decisive victory.

Unfortunately for him, the evening’s final caution flew after J.J. Yeley tapped Derrike Cope into a spin as they raced through turn 2. All the evening’s front runners headed in for their final pit stops.

“(Crew Chief) Dan (Deeringhoff) and the guys were great in the pits. I dug deep and pushed real hard and made a break bias adjustment. My guys made the right call with an air pressure adjustment. It was a total team effort,” said a victorious Bowyer.

2005 winner Carl Edwards made a futile gamble by staying out on the track. It took only a handful of laps to for the front runners to flood past Busch Series Championship leader Edwards.

Friday’s victory was Clint Bowyer’s 5th Busch Series victory of his career.

There were 8 lead changes among 5 drivers and 7 cautions for 48 laps. Time of the race was 2:02.25, for an average speed of 91.899mph.

Top finishing rookie was Juan Pablo Montoya (11th ). Carl Edwards leads the Series Championship with 1793 points, 402 in front of defending champion Kevin Harvick.

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