Published: May 06, 2008 04:13 pm            

Clint Bowyer takes the victory after Junior wrecks

Monticello — Bizarre might be a good description for Saturday night's Cup race at

Richmond International Raceway.

Polesitter, Denny Hamlin led a race-record number of 381 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch provided a few laps of great racing

for the lead, a battle that ended with Earnhardt being spun out by Busch on

Lap 398. And that led to Clint Bowyer getting by both Earnhardt and Busch,

en route to his second career win in Cup competition.

"The fastest car does not always win," said Bowyer, "You know, you've

got to be able to be there for the taking, at least, and we were close

enough to do just that.

"It was pretty wild out there. It was bound to happen. I was watching it

and [owner Richard Childress] was on the radio saying, ŒIt's going to

happen,' and sure enough it did happen."

Hamlin owned the race until he had a tire go flat with the end in sight,

on Lap 383. He stopped his car on the track and NASCAR invoked a two-lap

penalty for intentionally causing a caution.

After the restart, Earnhardt and Busch battled several laps for the lead

with Earnhardt taking over, much to the delight of the fans. Their cheers

turned to boos a few laps later when the two drivers scraped together and

Earnhardt spun, hitting the outside wall.

That set the stage for a green, white, checker finish ­ with Bowyer

holding off Busch for the last two laps.

"Just a bummer of a deal," said Busch, "We were both racing hard there."

With the crash, Earnhardt Jr.'s winless streak extended to 72 races.

"I'm out there trying to win and you saw it tonight, I came in with a

wrecked race car and finished 15th," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I could have let

Kyle go. He was faster and finished second or third or whatever. But I would

have got a lot of bad press for that. As mad as I am about that situation

and as much as is going to be made of it in the coming week, the real

injustice is this team didn't get what they deserved."

While Bowyer was celebrating in victory lane, Michael Waltrip was trying

to explain to NASCAR officials why he continued to push Casey Mears' car

after an accident between the two. Mears pinched Waltrip into the outside

wall, causing both cars to make contact. Waltrip continued the skirmish

after the cars slowed down.

It was another good performance for veteran Mark Martin, who finished

third. Rounding out the top-10 were Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan

Newman, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne. Earnhardt

wound up 15th. Hamlin was 24th.

Top-12 Chase contenders after 10 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-1495, 2.

Burton-1477, 3. Earnhardt-1391, 4. Bowyer-1372, 5. Harvick-1350, 6.

Hamlin-1349, 7. Johnson-1318, 8. Stewart-1297, 9. Biffle-1269, 10.

Edwards-1230, 11. Newman-1212, 12. Kahne-1162

Top-10 Nationwide Series leaders after 11 of 35: 1. Bowyer-1565, 2.

Edwards-1556, 3. Kyle Busch-1553, 4. Ragan-1434, 5. Bliss-1424, 6.

Reutimann-1407, 7. Keselowski-1382, 8. Leffler-1342, 9. M. Wallace-1297, 10.

Stremme-1177

        

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