NASCAR Cup Series

Bowyer, Hamlin find top gear to start Chase

Published Sep. 20, 2010 1:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin are peaking at the right time.

With his second-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Hamlin maintained the points lead he established entering the Chase for the Sprint Cup by 35 points.

But the day belonged to Bowyer, who snapped an 88-race winless streak by dominating in the Sylvania 300 — the first race of NASCAR’s playoff.

Bowyer took the lead for the first time on Lap 29 and led seven times for 177 of 300 total circuits — which is more laps than he had led all year (163). But it was the final two that mattered most.

Bowyer made his last pit stop on Lap 208 and took the lead out of the pits. When the race went green on Lap 213, Tony Stewart passed for the lead. Although Jamie McMurray battled to the point for a 10-lap stretch (Laps 238-247), Stewart grabbed the lead again for a 51-lap run. Stewart and Bowyer played cat and mouse on fuel, hoping to extend their mileage over the final 92 laps with Hamlin quickly closing in with abandon since he pitted nine laps after the leaders.

"Run him down, or save gas?" Bowyer asked as he was running identical lap times to Stewart.

Crew chief Shane Wilson warned Bowyer to save 2 1/2 laps worth of fuel then added, “Run as fast as you can to maintain second place and hope (Stewart) runs out.”

Bowyer exercised restraint, finding the balance between racing and conserving fuel. As he and Stewart were coming off of Turn 4 to the white flag, the No. 14 ran out of gas and Bowyer sailed to the finish on fumes with Hamlin just 0.477 seconds behind.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bowyer said. “I just couldn’t believe it. (I ran out of fuel) in the burn-out — thank God.”

Hamlin had plenty of momentum entering the Chase after winning at Richmond and carrying the points lead into New Hampshire. But Sunday morning, crew chief Mike Ford was apprehensive despite the driver’s previous average New Hampshire finish of 8.2.

Ford needn't have worried. After making contact with Carl Edwards on Lap 214, Hamlin restarted 22nd and gained 20 positions over the final 80 laps.

Hamlin's next hurdle will be Dover. If the No. 11 team can survive the Monster Mile — where his average finish of 22.8 is by far his worst among Chase tracks — Hamlin could be the favorite in the final eight races.

“We all know how Dover is for me,” Hamlin said. “We've just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover next week. That's our goal. You've got to set a number, a number that you're satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover next week.

“The number in which I hope to run just moved up like five spots. So that’s just what we have to do. And it’s not that we just run bad at Dover every time, it’s just every time I went there, I either wrecked or broke something or ran terrible. So with the exception of the spring, that's about the only good run I've had there, so, yeah, we do shift our expectations based off of this week.”

Unlike Hamlin, Bowyer is in the enviable position of his fellow Chasers still considering him an underdog. For Bowyer, who moved from 12th to second in the standings with his third career win, it feels a lot like 2007 when he held the same role and finished third in the points.

“To win the first race of the Chase and set the tempo, not only for the Chase but for our race team, our organization, all three of our (Childress) cars were up front and that’s what it takes,” Bowyer said. “You’ve got to work together as we did this weekend.

“We all showed up a little bit different and we found a common ground. We all (homed) in on that, fine-tuned it from there, worked together. And if we do that the rest of these races, somebody at RCR is going to bring a championship trophy home to (Richard Childress).”

Running on empty

Tony Stewart has seen this nightmare before.

In 1999, his rookie season, Stewart led 118 laps at New Hampshire before running out of gas on the backstretch with two laps remaining. On Sunday, Stewart led 100 laps before coasting to the line and finishing 24th.

“It sucks,” Stewart said. “Congratulations to Clint and those guys. He had a great car all day. He did a good job of saving fuel and I didn't do a good job. I'm not happy, that's for sure, but we went down swinging. It's hard to lose one that way but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that.

“It's a tough way to start the Chase but I'm proud of my guys. Darian (crew chief Grubb) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent. There is so much that can happen in nine races. I promise you this: This Old Spice/Office Depot Chevy team is not going to give up. We'll do the best we can and give it our best shot.”

Stewart dropped five positions to 11th in the standings. He trails Hamlin by 124 points.

Something wrong?

NASCAR spent an extended amount of inspection time with the Nos. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and 48 (Jimmie Johnson) cars which failed to pass the height sticks in the first attempt. While the officials took pictures of the cars for insurance, after the shocks cooled down both cars made it through the height sticks on the second attempt.

NASCAR took the Nos. 33 (Bowyer) and 6 (David Ragan) cars to the technical center for further analysis as well as engines going from the Nos. 33, 11, 6, 46 (Michael McDowell).

Numbers game

Jamie McMurray was assessed with a tail-end penalty for speeding on the entrance to pit road on Lap 208. In the final 88 laps, McMurray came from 22nd to finish a New Hampshire career-best third.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fourth-place finish was his third top five of the season and his best result since Daytona in July. Earnhardt was the top finishing Hendrick Motorsports entry.

AJ Allmendinger was running third before his team ran him out of gas on Lap 99. Allmendinger salvaged a 12th-place finish.

Say What?

While Stewart referred to Bowyer as “a hillbilly” in New York City, many of NASCAR’s fan base would embrace a guy who wears blue jeans and cowboy boots as its champion — similar to the last RCR driver who won a title for Richard Childress Racing in 1994. Before leaving to hunt in New Mexico, Childress echoed that sentiment.

“It's funny you say that. (Team general manager Mike Dillon) came over to me in the Winner’s Circle and said 'TThis is the best thing for NASCAR; we need somebody like Clint Bowyer winning races and running for this championship,'” Childress said. “Because Clint, he came from the short tracks, the dirt tracks. He's worked and he's earned his way to where he is today. He's very fan friendly. The fans love him. It's what I think NASCAR needs is a new type of hero — blue jeans, plaid pants, whatever, it's good.

“Cowboy boots, I've got mine on right now.”