Motorsports

Bowyer keeps running, keeps contending for Cup

By KELLIE DIXON, Times Staff Writer
Published October 15, 2007

Clint Bowyer, in his second year of Nextel Cup racing, is third in points in the Chase for the Championship.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Of the three Richard Childress Racing drivers in the Chase for the Championship, Bowyer is sitting on top.

CONCORD, N.C. - Second place is no fun.

Clint Bowyer will be the first to tell you that.

But Bowyer, in his second year of Nextel Cup racing, isn't upset about the way he's doing. After all, he finally stayed out of trouble in Turn4 on Saturday night - a tall task - and stayed alive in the Chase for the Championship with a second-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Jeff Gordon, who won the Bank of America 500, has a decent lead in the Chase. And if he keeps running well, he could lock up the championship.

But Gordon can't take his eyes completely off his rearview mirror. Not when he's being tracked by the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Bowyer.

It's no surprise that Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, would be dangerous. He ran consistently well in the final races last season.

But Bowyer, who slid on his lid of his No.07 Chevrolet across the Daytona 500 finish line in February, is still a relative newcomer. Yet he sits third in points, trailing Gordon by 78 points and Johnson by 10. He has finished every race this season, recording one win, five top-fives and 15 top-10s.

"He's impressing a lot of people right now," Gordon said. "Maybe he wasn't spectacular before this Chase started, but he's very consistent. Zero did-not-finishes. To me the real key to one of the top drivers is when the moment for the Chase for the Championship is on the line, are you capable of stepping up?"

Bowyer, 29, has shown he is. On Saturday, he dodged wrecks mostly caused by tire trouble. As Johnson struggled to get his car right, Bowyer quietly climbed from 25th starting position to the top 10 within 60 laps. He led three times for 79 laps and was gunning for his first on the final restart.

But Gordon spun his tires and Bowyer nudged him from behind. When Bowyer stopped by after the race to apologize for hitting the No.24, Gordon said he jokingly thanked him. That shove, Gordon said, gave him the momentum to run to the win.

Bowyer doesn't really want to be in a position to help Gordon. He knows how tough the four-time Cup champion and Gordon's teammate, Johnson, can be.

"Jeff has been the guy to beat all year long, not necessarily just in the Chase," Bowyer said. "Both those guys have been on top of the game. ...They are going to have to stub their toe a little bit for us to catch them."

Of the three Richard Childress Racing drivers in the Chase, Bowyer is sitting on top. Jeff Burton improved to 10th in the standings after finishing fourth. Kevin Harvick slipped from sixth in points to eighth after finishing 33rd. Bowyer said he hoped to be the top driver among his teammates at this point in the season.

"We are after a championship, and we are still in this thing," Bowyer said. "We just have to pick up our game a little bit more the rest of these races."

[Last modified October 14, 2007, 20:38:24]