Clint Bowyer claims 100th career victory for RCR with win at Talladega

Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Richard Childress Racing claimed their 100^th career victory as Clint Bowyer grabbed the checkered flag at Talladega. Bowyer and teammate Jeff Burton were a force to be reckon with, together leading 51 of the 188 laps. Bowyer beat Burton to the line by a narrow .018 second margin of victory to collect only his fifth career victory.

Many Chase drivers saw their fair share of drama; Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin all were involved in wrecks altering their Chase efforts. Jimmie Johnson also got a small piece of a wreck involving Andy Lally and Terry Labonte but the damage was very minor and was fixed on a quick pit stop.

Escaping the drama of ‘Dega was Chase leader Carl Edwards, he and drafting partner Greg Biffle played the strategy card and stayed in the back of the pack until the final restart. Edwards made the charge with just 2 to go climbed to 11^th place to secure the points lead heading into Martinsville next week, Edwards now leads the Chase by 14 points over teammate Matt Kenseth and holds the largest lead of the Chase.

With so many of the Chase drivers having a difficult day, drivers like Dave Blaney got to shine. Blaney finished in 3^rd after teaming with Brad Keselowski for a dance partner and together they worked their way from 20^th in just 8 laps to finish in 3^rd and 4^th places respectively.

The racing was slowed for a total of 9 cautions and a total of 38 laps were run under yellow flag conditions. At lap 81, the Stewart Haas tandem of Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart had problems, Newman spun and the team fixed the initial damage. Newman would later retire to the garage from the damage to the No. 39 car.

At Lap 105 another caution flew flew in the air and this one was costly, ending the day for several drivers. Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger were drafting together, Ambrose turned Allmendinger and caused a chain reaction crash involving Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya. Harvick’s team made repairs to his car and Busch went behind the wall for 11 laps to repair the No. 18 car.

Jimmie Johnson had a close call when the cars of Terry Labonte and Andy Lally hit in front of him at lap 164, Johnson got slight damage but his pit crew was able to fix the car right up.

Another costly accident for a Chase contender, Kurt Busch was involved in an accident at lap 175. Busch, Bobby Labonte and Michael Waltrip were all involved with Labonte and Busch having heavy damage on their cars. Labonte appeared slightly injured after the accident but was treated and released from the infield care center though complaining of soreness in his foot.

The final caution came out at lap 182 and involved the cars of Mark Martin, Ambrose, Hamlin, Regan Smith and Montoya. Regan Smith took an extremely hard hit into the outside retaining wall but got out and waved to the fans, signaling he was okay. After an extended clean up and repairs to the SAFER barrier the race restarted with 2 to go and set up for an exciting and nerve wracking finish.

Race Results:
1. Clint Bowyer
2. Jeff Burton
3. Dave Blaney
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Brian Vickers
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Tony Stewart
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Michael Waltrip
10. Martin Truex Jr.
11. Carl Edwards
12. Paul Menard
13. David Reutimann
14. Greg Biffle
15. Trevor Bayne
16. Landon Cassill
17. Casey Mears
18. Matt Kenseth
19. Marcos Ambrose
20. Mark Martin
21. Travis Kvapil
22. David Gilliland
23. Juan Pablo Montoya
24. Joey Logano
25. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
26. Jimmie Johnson
27. Jeff Gordon
28. David Ragan
29. Jamie McMurray
30. Regan Smith
31. AJ Allmendinger
32. Kevin Harvick
33. Kyle Busch
34. Terry Labonte
35. Bobby Labonte
36. Kurt Busch
37. Robby Gordon
38. Ryan Newman
39. Andy Lally
40. Michael McDowell
41. Joe Nemechek
42. JJ Yeley
43. Kevin Conway