Clint Bowyer Wins A Wild One At Talladega

Clint Bowyer surged past Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton through the tri-oval on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway to win Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500. Bowyer, who will leave RCR for Michael Waltrip Racing next season, beat Burton to the finish line by .018 seconds to record his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career. Dave Blaney, pushed by Brad Keselowski, ran third, with Keselowski taking the flag in fourth in a race that saw only five drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finish in the top 24. Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne finished fifth and six, followed by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. Carl Edwards came home 11th and extended his lead in the Chase to 14 points over Matt Kenseth, who finished 18th.

A six-car wreck on Lap 104 did major damage to the Chase chances of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. As the lead pack of cars sped through the tri-oval, a push from Marcos Ambrose turned Richard Petty Motorsports teammate AJ Allmendinger, triggering a crash that crumpled the hood of Harvick’s Chevrolet and knocked in the driver’s side of Busch’s Toyota. Harvick lost two laps during multiple pit stops to repair his car, and Busch spent 11 laps in the garage before bringing his hobbled car back on track on Lap 118.

Two early incidents broke up potent drafting combinations. On Lap 67, Joey Logano spun off Turn 4 in close quarters with Trevor Bayne, who was trying to get to pit road. Before Logano could complete another lap, his left front tire exploded, destroying the left front fender of his Toyota. That left Busch, who had been drafting with Logano, to pair up with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, a prospect considered so unlikely before the race that the organization hadn’t established radio channels that would allow Busch, Hamlin and their spotters and crew chiefs to communicate freely.

Stewart lost his partner, teammate Ryan Newman, when Newman spun off Stewart’s bumper in the tri-oval. With heavy front-end damage, Newman lost a lap on pit road as his team repaired the car and two more laps on the racetrack before taking his car to the garage after 97 laps. Coincidentally, Stewart then teamed with Logano, who was driving the No. 20 Home Depot car that carried Stewart to Cup championships in 2002 and 2005. Logano pushed Stewart to the lead on Lap 101, before the pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 104 ended the brief partnership between Hamlin and Busch and changed the complexion of the race and the Chase.