Richmond, VA (Sports Network) - Clint Bowyer captured Friday night's Circuit
City 250 Busch Series race at the Richmond International Raceway. The No.2
Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 1.483 seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth.
The victory was Bowyer's second of the season and fifth of his Busch career.
Virginian Denny Hamlin brought the 43-car field to the green flag for 250 laps
of short track racing. The field got just three green-flag laps completed
before the first caution flew when J.J. Yeley and Kyle Krisiloff got together.
Then Sam Hornish Jr., winner of two IndyCar races at RIR, got loose and hit
the outside wall to bring out another caution flag and they had yet to finish
15 laps.
The race went back to green and Jeff Burton immediately put pressure on Hamlin
finally completing the pass on lap 21. Two laps later Hamlin was sent spinning
while trying to fight off Kenseth for second place and he slammed the inside
wall sending the pole sitter to the garage for major repairs.
Burton led a total of 53 laps before he was finally chased down by Bowyer,
winner of the race in Phoenix just two weeks ago. Burton's pit crew got him
back to the top of the charts with a lightening stop.
Through 100 laps and Burton held one second over Bowyer. Kenseth passed Bowyer
and closed in on Burton as the field approached the halfway point. While this
was going on, Kevin Harvick, winner of three straight Busch Series races at
RIR, was charging towards the front. He started 13th in the No.77 Chevy and
passed Reed Sorenson for fifth with just under 120 laps to go.
A round of caution-flag pit stops and Burton led the field off pit lane.
Kenseth caught Burton on lap 167 and they exchanged positions. But the pair
was more than three seconds ahead of third-place Bowyer.
Kenseth steadily built his lead until it cracked the one-second mark on lap
180. He continued to drive hard and the lead was over two seconds by lap 190.
Kenseth's pace was very fast and as the field passed the 200-lap mark, just 15
drivers remained on the lead lap. Then the No.17 Ford hit some slower traffic
which allowed Burton to chop into Kenseth's lead. But Bowyer was faster than
both Kenseth and Burton and he caught and passed Burton on lap 215. However,
their side-by-side battle for second allowed Kenseth to rebuild his lead to
more than two seconds.
Kenseth was set to cruise to the checker, but Derrike Cope was spun by Yeley
to bring out a caution flag and set up a fight to the finish.
Carl Edwards and David Ragan took a gamble and stayed out, but Bowyer's crew
got him first across the stripe while Kenseth came out fourth.
There were 23 laps remaining when the green flag dropped.
The gamble didn't work and Edwards, who was sixth before the caution, finished
13th.
Meanwhile, Bowyer, Burton and Kenseth battled for the win. Bowyer got through
the two leaders faster than Burton and Kenseth and built a 1.2-second lead.
Kenseth and Burton continued to fight each other for second place, but it
allowed Bowyer to expand on his margin even further. It was over two seconds
with 10 laps remaining.
Bowyer cruised to the checkered flag and Kenseth finally prevailed over
Burton for second place.
"A good pit stop there at the end got us where we needed to be," said Bowyer
in Victory Lane.
Burton, Harvick and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.
Despite a 13th-place finish, Edwards' points lead was never in doubt. The
No.60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver remains 402 points ahead of Harvick.
The next race in the series is set for Friday night, May 11th at the
Darlington Raceway.