Press Release

Clint Bowyer drives to victory in "Dover 200" NASCAR Nationwide Series race

Release date: September 26, 2009
Contact: Dover PR

Click here for "Dover 200" NASCAR Nationwide Series unofficial race results.

DOVER, Del. - Clint Bowyer didn’t know for sure that he’d be driving Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet until this past Monday. Turns out he’s pretty good on short notice. “My name was on the car,” Bowyer said during a post-race press conference. “I just got in it.”

Clint Bowyer hoists the monster trophy

On a day when the 43 drivers were racing an impending storm as well as one another, Bowyer won the “Dover 200” NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Monster Mile on Saturday afternoon. Mike Bliss, No. 11 Ridemakerz Toyota, finished a surprising second, while Brad Keselowski, No. 88 GoDaddy Chevrolet, overcame a pit road speeding penalty to finish third.

The threat of rain hung over the race all day. But for the first half of the event, it didn’t look like it was going to matter when – or if – it started raining, because Kyle Busch’s No. 18 NOS Toyota was in charge. The series points leader put the pedal down at the opening green flag and left everyone in his wake for the first 83 laps until the first round of pit stops came around. He yielded the lead for a handful of laps during the pit cycle, but quickly regained the lead and built a 5.4-second cushion.

The race ran green until lap 109, when the first caution flag flew. It might as well have been aimed at Busch, because it spelled the end to his dominance. Meanwhile, Bowyer’s crew loosened up his car a bit, giving him what he needed to reel in Busch on the restart. Bowyer finally passed Busch on lap 120 and wouldn't let go of the lead the rest of the way.

“I knew what we put in before the race to compensate because we were so loose in qualifying,” Bowyer said. “And it was too tight. So we pulled it back out and ran it like we did in practice. Once we got the car back the way we were in practice, it was go-cat-go from there.”

Originally, Stephen Leicht was set to run the Dover race in the No. 29. Team owner Richard Childress made the call to put Bowyer in the car for the race at the Monster Mile, as well as the next two weeks, in an effort to give the team some consistency.

“We needed to get this car running better and Dover is one of my best race tracks,” Bowyer said. “I hated that he (Leicht) didn’t get his chance, but he will. We need to get this thing running for him so he has a chance to show what he can do as a driver, and his talents.”

An exuberant Bowyer in Dover's Victory Lane Photo by Getty Images

For Busch, it was another day at the Monster Mile that started with promise and ended with disappointment, coming after all three May 2009 races ended with bad luck. It seemed almost typical that at the start of the race Busch couldn’t communicate with his crew via radio. Despite that, his jackrabbit start put him ahead by a full second after just six laps. But that early lead wouldn’t last.

“The more the race went on, the looser we got on for some reason,” Busch said. “The guys made adjustments in order to tighten it up and I don’t know if it was just the tires or what, but every time we put a set of tires on we just kept getting looser and looser. It’s a problem when you can’t explain exactly what the car is doing.”  

A bit of a circus pit stop cycle took place under green starting at lap 83. Some drivers missed it the first time around, and others had trouble getting out – Justin Allgaier stalled, and Keselowski was nailed for speeding after forgetting what gear he needed to be in.

“Usually we use second gear on pit road,” Keselowski said. “With the transmission gear lineup we use at Dover, most teams use first, and I didn’t compensate for it. I maxed out my RPM in second gear, and obviously since it’s a different gear, it’s a different speed.

“We dug out of the hole and got back to a shot of winning the race, and just ran out of laps. You can’t make mistakes and win these races, and I did. So I’m proud of the effort. It’s mildly disappointing because I had a car that could run with Clint and I just never had my chance to do it.”

There were two incidents in the final 60 laps, with Ryan Newman wrecking on lap 146 and Denny Hamlin getting involved with Keselowski on lap 193.

The field races to green to kick off the Dover 200 on Saturday. Photo by Getty Images

Although Busch finished fourth, he actually extended his points lead by ten because Carl Edwards finished fifth. Busch is now up by 211 points. Keselowski remained 297 points back with his third-place finish.

Allgaier’s gaffe was an expensive one. He entered the race fighting for fourth place in the point’s race, but exited it in sixth after finishing 26th. Steve Wallace leapfrogged him with a 13th place finish. “We just ran out of fuel,” Allgaier said. "Coming in I let off the gas and went to pull into the pit box and it died. I didn’t know we were quite that close.”

As for Bliss, his second-place finish was a breath of fresh air in a difficult season. He was let go from his ride in the No. 1 Phoenix Racing car in August, and has lived a bit of a nomadic existence since. “It was a good run,” Bliss said. “Monday I didn’t really have a ride for here. So just finishing second was good for me. But then it [was tough] because you could see the leader, and you wanted to see that big Dover trophy. But it was exciting.”

Rookie Michael Annett had a strong day. He wrecked in qualifying and had to start 42nd in his backup car, but drove to a 13th place finish in the race.

The official time of the race was one hour, 38 minutes and it ran at an average speed of 122.034 mph – the fastest NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Dover since the track record of 130.152 mph was set in May 1998. It was the fourth fastest NASCAR Nationwide Series race on record since the series came to the Monster Mile in 1982. 

Great seats still remain for Sunday's "AAA 400" NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Monster Mile. For more information, or to purchase race tickets, call 800-441-RACE or click here.

Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: DVD) is a leading promoter of motorsports events in the United States. DVD subsidiaries operate three tracks in three states, and present several hundred motorsports events each year. For 2009, 14 major, national events were held, including races sanctioned by NASCAR and NHRA. Dover Motorsports, Inc. owns and operates Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del., Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tenn. For further information log on to www.DoverMotorsports.com. This release may contain forward-looking statements based on management’s beliefs and assumptions. Such statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause results to vary materially. Please refer to the SEC filings of DVD for a discussion of such factors.