The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Oct
14th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
Clint Bowyer kept his title hopes alive with a win in a fuel mileage run at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
Bowyer took his third victory of the year because Denny Hamlin, who finished second, and Jimmie Johnson, who finished third, both, had to conserve fuel in the 500 mile race.
“I mean realistically we're still in the things,” a smiling Bowyer said. “After Talladega what a way to bounce back.” Looking ahead to next week he called his home track, Kansas, “maybe a wild card,” due to the recent repave. Bowyer is now fourth, 28 points behind Brad Keselowski who finished 11th after making a late race pit stop to top off with fuel.
This was Bowyer's first win at the 1.5 mile track and eighth career victory in 248 starts in NASCAR's premier series.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished third, is now in second place seven points behind Keselowski; Hamlin is third 15 points back.
“It was good to have a fuel-mileage race somewhat go our way, and Darian made the gutsy call to bring us in and lose all of our track position in the middle of the race, which I was kind of frustrated with,” said Hamlin who finished .417 seconds behind Bowyer.
“But obviously he knew what he was doing and we saved the fuel that we needed, and we slowed down just enough to finish second. We just needed one more lap. We'll take second and move on.”
Five-time Champion Johnson should have been pleased that he halved the points he needed to catch Keselowski, but, he jokingly showed his annoyance when asked about his race.
“Went in a bunch of circles, and we're done, and I made it on fuel,” Johnson said. Then he explained “Well, it's just weird running so long, saving fuel like we had to at the end, and the two segments' worth. But there's some tracks and some conditions where that's just the game you have to play.”
It was Keselowski's first setback in the ten-race Chase. Typically his crew chief Paul Wolfe gambled on a fuel strategy and won. On Saturday night an attempt to stretch fuel backfired. “It was like playing blackjack,” Keselowski said “you can't win them all. I led a bunch of laps (he led a race high 139-laps).”
Bowyer's crew chief, Brian Pattie acknowledged that the only way to championship was with wins at this points. “We're going for trophies that's the only way you'll beat the 2 (Keselowski), 48 (Johnson) and 11 (Hamlin).”
Greg Biffle, the pole sitter finished fourth in a Ford and is sixth in the standings 43 points
behind. He said “It's amazing that those guys can go that far on a tank of gas.”
Kasey who now is fifth in the points, 35 down to Keselowski finished eighth.
The Sprint Cup series moves on to Kansas where the drivers are being given extra track time because of the recent repave.
Bowyer took his third victory of the year because Denny Hamlin, who finished second, and Jimmie Johnson, who finished third, both, had to conserve fuel in the 500 mile race.
“I mean realistically we're still in the things,” a smiling Bowyer said. “After Talladega what a way to bounce back.” Looking ahead to next week he called his home track, Kansas, “maybe a wild card,” due to the recent repave. Bowyer is now fourth, 28 points behind Brad Keselowski who finished 11th after making a late race pit stop to top off with fuel.
This was Bowyer's first win at the 1.5 mile track and eighth career victory in 248 starts in NASCAR's premier series.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished third, is now in second place seven points behind Keselowski; Hamlin is third 15 points back.
“It was good to have a fuel-mileage race somewhat go our way, and Darian made the gutsy call to bring us in and lose all of our track position in the middle of the race, which I was kind of frustrated with,” said Hamlin who finished .417 seconds behind Bowyer.
“But obviously he knew what he was doing and we saved the fuel that we needed, and we slowed down just enough to finish second. We just needed one more lap. We'll take second and move on.”
Five-time Champion Johnson should have been pleased that he halved the points he needed to catch Keselowski, but, he jokingly showed his annoyance when asked about his race.
“Went in a bunch of circles, and we're done, and I made it on fuel,” Johnson said. Then he explained “Well, it's just weird running so long, saving fuel like we had to at the end, and the two segments' worth. But there's some tracks and some conditions where that's just the game you have to play.”
It was Keselowski's first setback in the ten-race Chase. Typically his crew chief Paul Wolfe gambled on a fuel strategy and won. On Saturday night an attempt to stretch fuel backfired. “It was like playing blackjack,” Keselowski said “you can't win them all. I led a bunch of laps (he led a race high 139-laps).”
Bowyer's crew chief, Brian Pattie acknowledged that the only way to championship was with wins at this points. “We're going for trophies that's the only way you'll beat the 2 (Keselowski), 48 (Johnson) and 11 (Hamlin).”
Greg Biffle, the pole sitter finished fourth in a Ford and is sixth in the standings 43 points
behind. He said “It's amazing that those guys can go that far on a tank of gas.”
Kasey who now is fifth in the points, 35 down to Keselowski finished eighth.
The Sprint Cup series moves on to Kansas where the drivers are being given extra track time because of the recent repave.