Bowyer, Jack Daniel’s Chevy Cap off Year with Top 
Five in Homestead

Race/Date: Ford 400 – Nov. 16, 2008 - Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla. - Start Position: 27th - Finish Position: Fifth
Final Points Standing: Fifth (Gained one position)

Homestead, Fla. – Clint Bowyer and the Jack Daniel’s Racing team capped off 2008 in fine fashion with a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The top-five finish, Bowyer’s seventh of the year, was also enough to vault Mr. Jack’s Crew up one spot, to fifth, in the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship point standings. The solid effort was also the Emporia, Kan., driver’s 17th top 10 in 36 races this season.

Richard Childress Racing’s three-car team of Kevin Harvick, Bowyer and Jeff Burton finished the year fourth, fifth and sixth in points, respectively.

The Jack Daniel’s Chevy rolled off the starting grid from the inside of the 14th row and Bowyer was quick to the whip, picking off seven positions in the opening 36 laps.

Green-flag racing consumed the opening quarter of the 267-lap season finale, causing the opening round of pit stops to occur under green-flag conditions. Bowyer peeled off the racing surface on lap 50 with crew chief Gil Martin calling for fresh Goodyears, including an air pressure adjustment to the right-front tire, and a full load of fuel. Once pit stops cycled through the 43-car field, Bowyer was 18th in the running order courtesy of a stellar 12.85-second stop.

The first caution flag of the day waved on lap 69 and Martin seized the opportunity to garner some much-needed track position, calling for just right-side tires during the race’s second round of service. With a majority of teams choosing to go the four-tire route, Bowyer shot up to third for the lap 74 restart.

Over the next 53 circuits around the mile-and-a-half variably banked South Florida oval, Bowyer conceded 11 spots to drivers who took on four tires during the previous round of pit stops. Still, the two-tire strategy paid off with Bowyer not losing the lion’s share of those spots until the much later stages of the extended green-flag run.

The second round of green-flag stops got underway near the halfway mark with Bowyer making his third pit stop on lap 127. After informing his team that the Jack Daniel’s Chevy felt pretty good during the previous run, Martin opted for no changes other than fresh tires and fuel.

Bowyer made one more stop during the next 39 laps and was up to 13th when the fourth yellow of the race flew 100 laps from the checkered flag. Since two tires worked well enough before, Martin opted to go that route again.

Now in fourth for the lap-173 restart, Bowyer held his ground for the next dozen laps and only lost four positions over the next 25 to those drivers on four fresh tires.

The day’s pivotal caution period came on lap 198, 69 laps from the conclusion. With a fuel window right at 60 laps, Martin knew it would take sound fuel management by his driver and the help of a few caution laps for the Jack Daniel’s Chevy to go the distance without having to pit again. Bowyer made his last trip to pit lane on lap 200 for a final set of tires and every ounce of fuel the black and white No. 07 machine would hold.

Save fuel was the moniker for the final 64 laps and Bowyer was able to make up ground on practically everyone in front of him by way of not pitting.

The Jack Daniel’s Chevy made steady progress as the laps wound down and, when the checkers waved on the 2008 season, Bowyer was fifth on both the scoreboard and in the season-ending point standings.

Harvick finished second while Burton was scored 40th after being collected in an incident on the back straightaway.

The race also marked Bowyer’s final appearance in the Jack Daniel’s Chevy. Casey Mears will take over the driving chores for the No. 07 team next season while Bowyer moves to the seat of RCR’s No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy for 2009.

Carl Edwards made the fuel mileage gamble work, as well, and earned his ninth victory of the season. Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon and Bowyer rounded out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson earned championship honors for the third-consecutive season, also helping clinch the manufacturer’s championship for Chevrolet. Edwards was second and Greg Biffle finished third. The RCR trio of Harvick, Bowyer and Burton closed out the top six in the 2008 installment of the Chase for NASCAR the Sprint Cup.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

"It was kind of an emotional night, really. Gil (Martin) and all the guys on the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet … we have had a lot of fun together and a lot of success. We had a good car. We had to take two tires and do a lot of things to get track position, which was what we had to do. I didn’t qualify well and Gil made a good call there to stay out and we stuck with it. We knew we were three or four laps shy so we just tried to save as much fuel as we could and it worked out.”