Bowyer, BB&T Chevy Lock up Title with Top Five at Homestead

Race/Date: Ford 300 – November 15, 2008 - Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla. - Start Position: 13th - Finish Position: Fifth - Final Points Standing: First

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Clint Bowyer and the BB&T Racing team locked up the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship with a fifth-place finish in Saturday night’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bowyer edged second-place and eventual race winner Carl Edwards by a narrow 21-point margin en route to his first Nationwide Series championship. The Emporia, Kan., native led the point standings in NASCAR’s No. 2 division for 29 consecutive weeks and didn’t finish worse than 25th in any race this season. While Edwards was a frequent winner, Bowyer and his Dan Deeringhoff-led BB&T race team used consistency and strong finishes to capture the title. The 29-year-old driver earned one win, 14 top-five and a remarkable 29 top-10 finishes in 35 events this year.

At the same time, Richard Childress Racing earned its fifth Nationwide Series title and 12th overall in NASCAR’s three national touring divisions – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck.

Bowyer rolled off the starting grid 13th for the season finale and informed Deeringhoff that his BB&T Chevy was suffering from a loose-handling condition early in the run but swung tight as the laps clicked off and the tires began to wear. He worked his way up to 10th before making his initial pit stop, under green-flag conditions, on lap 56 of the 300-mile feature.

Deeringhoff called for a fresh set of Goodyear’s, with an air pressure adjustment, and a chassis adjustment to help ease the transition from loose to tight deep in the run. Once green-flag stops cycled through the field, Bowyer was back to 10th.

The first caution flag of the day waved just eight laps later and, with fewer than 10 laps of green-flag racing on his tires, Deeringhoff elected not to call his driver to pit road during the break in the action.

Back under green, now in ninth, Bowyer picked up a pair of positions and moved up to seventh before the caution flew again on lap 77 when fellow RCR pilot Jeff Burton spun coming off Turn 2.

The BB&T Chevy was back on the service lane a lap later for fresh rubber, including an air pressure adjustment to the left-rear tire.

Bowyer was 14th for the lap 82 restart after several teams opted for just two tires during their respective stops. Tensions ran high in the BB&T pit with the No. 2 machine running outside the top 10 and Edwards being shown atop the leader board for a majority of the race. At one point in the race, Bowyer was actually on the outside of the championship window looking in.

The edge wore off over the next 21 circuits as Bowyer was able to work his was way back inside the top 10. Still, track position was at a premium and while he made his way up to ninth, Bowyer & Co. knew they had to finish eighth or better, no matter what Edwards did, to secure the title.

Deeringhoff made what proved to be the championship-winning decision during the team’s third pit stop, calling for just right-side tires when most of the front-runners got four, ultimately snaring five positions for his driver in the process.

As it turned out, two tires stacked up as well as four over the next 30 laps. Bowyer hung tough in the top five and recorded lap times nearly equal to those of drivers who had new skins on all four corners.

The BB&T team made their final pit stop of the year during the race’s sixth caution flag and the over-the-wall crew demonstrated its championship mettle with a red hot sub-14-second stop.

Now in third, thanks to the strong effort on pit road, Bowyer raced hard in the top five but took a somewhat conservative approach to make sure he didn’t jeopardize his title hopes.

As the race wound down and the championship view became clearer, Bowyer, Deeringhoff and the entire BB&T crew breathed a little easier with each passing lap. When the checkered flag finally waved to cap off the season, Bowyer was fifth in the final rundown and the 2008 series champion.

Edwards notched his seventh win of the season beating Kyle Busch by just over a half-second. Brad Keselowski was third, Jason Leffler fourth and Bowyer rounded out the top five.

Fellow RCR stablemate Scott Wimmer was sixth with Burton was scored 35th in the final rundown.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“It's just incredible. It makes you think back to how it all started. You know, working in a body shop in Kansas and trying to figure out your next move. You're out of money, your parents gave up three retirements to get you where you're at, and, you know, it was kind of the end of the road. Out of nowhere, my cell phone rings and it was Richard (Childress). It was just unbelievable to think back to how my career started with the ARCA race in Nashville and then winning my first race in the Nationwide series at Nashville. You know, to be able to win our first championship with Dan (Deeringhoff) and all the guys on the BB&T Chevrolet and, of course, all our partners is an accomplishment that I’m proud of. I’m very proud to be able to do this for Richard. It kind of feels like giving back to him for taking a chance on me and finally it paid off. It took me a while but I finally had a chance, an opportunity, to give back to him and I’m just really proud of everybody at RCR. BB&T, Camping World, Chevrolet, everybody … we're strong. It's fun to be able to roll through RCR as a race car driver and know the guys and know that they're pulling for you and happy that you're racing for them. Richard has formed a family atmosphere where a guy can go there and feel like family.”