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Bowyer grabs a win
Late crash spoils night for Busch, Earnhardt
AP Photo
Clint Bowyer crosses the finish line ahead of Kyle Busch and Mark Martin to win the Dan Lowry 400.
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Published: May 4, 2008
RICHMOND, Va.
Kyle Busch may be the best racer in NASCAR, but he's clearly not the most popular, and last night he wound up in a controversial finish with stock-car racing's most popular -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- after what appeared to be an innocent mistake.
The Busch-Earnhardt crash opened the door for Clint Bowyer to pull off a totally unexpected victory in the Dan Lowry 400.
A slow-leaking flat tire in the final minutes doomed Denny Hamlin after a dominating performance for nearly 3½ hours. Hamlin led 366 laps of the scheduled 400, which went 10 laps overtime.
Hamlin's tire finally blew with 10 laps to go, with 16 cars still on the lead lap. Hamlin stopped his car on the track, forcing NASCAR to throw a yellow; NASCAR responded by penalizing Hamlin two laps.
On the restart with five to go, the race was between Earnhardt and Busch, with Earnhardt fighting to snap the longest drought of his NASCAR career, now longer than two years.
In the final moments it was classic Saturday night short-track racing under the lights -- and Busch wound up a villain after a collision with Earnhardt during a feisty battle for the win in the final miles, a collision that did not sit well with the sellout crowd.
"I love this place. We just took advantage of that misfortune at the end," Bowyer said after his second career win on the Sprint Cup tour.
Busch, who finished second, and takes over the Sprint Cup championship lead, was apologetic about his incident; Earnhardt was dejected.
"I was up under Dale, and Junior and I raced hard into three," Busch said. "It looked like he came down a little bit. But it was just good hard racing.
"I apologized to those guys. Everyone is scared to death of wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr. To say I took a win away from him, well, that's hard to say that. I hate it happened; we just didn't give each other enough room getting into three. I didn't think my car got loose; we just bumped, and when I corrected, he was gone.
"I probably could have gone down a little lower, and he could probably have gone up a little bit."
Earnhardt: "Whether it was fair or not, he's going to need some extra security, we all are.
"I haven't seen the replay, but Tony (Eury) Jr. (his crew chief) said it looked like Kyle got loose under me. And that happens.
"I wasn't good on the bottom, so I moved up. And Kyle was good on the bottom.
"He got a great run on me off one and two but gave me plenty of room. So it wasn't intentional, because he could have just run me into the fence off two.
"I've done that before. It happens when you get loose under somebody.
"We'd raced each other earlier and had no problems.
"The worst part about it is I've prided myself all season on running good. And I've been working for a win. And I ran hard and got wrecked. Had a top-three car and should have finished in the top three.
"I was going for the win; just ended up on the hook."
Earnhardt was hired by car owner Rick Hendrick to replace Busch this season. And that has been a bone of contention. Busch has won seven NASCAR races this season with his new team owners, the Gibbses, while Earnhardt is still winless with Hendrick.
Busch did point out two run-ins last fall with Earnhardt: "Last year we got wrecked twice, and that took us out of the championship."
After the race, one of Earnhardt's crewmen -- the same crew that worked for Busch last season -- confronted Busch on TV. "That he came down to confront me and ask, ‘Why did you did it?' that was simply insane," Busch said.
"It's just an unfortunate situation: It's unfortunate he didn't get a win, and it's unfortunate that I have to put up with it."
That was not the night's only controversy. Michael Waltrip was parked by NASCAR late in the race after he ran into Casey Mears.
In the day's news:
□ There has been no official word from either side, but it is becoming increasingly likely that Tony Stewart will indeed leave car owners Joe and J.D. Gibbs at the end of this season, to start his own team, under the Rick Hendrick Chevrolet umbrella, possibly with Bass Pro Shops as his sponsor. If Stewart does depart, that would leave the Gibbses looking for a new driver. Joey Logano's chances of getting the nod? Sunday's Carolina 500 at Rockingham Speedway could offer clues. Logano is to start from the pole, and he could lap the field.
□ Target, according to sources, may be reconsidering its NASCAR sponsorship. Target has been sponsoring Dodge owner Chip Ganassi for several years, though still without a major win.
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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