BOWYER RAINING CHAMP AT BRISTOL

Race/Date: Sharpie Mini 300 - March 15, 2008 Location: Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, Tenn. Start Position: Fourth Finish Position: First Points Position: Second - Gained three positions

Bristol, Tenn. - Clint Bowyer left little doubt he was the man to beat in Saturday's rain-shortened Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 28-year-old driver of the No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS led three times for 122 laps, including the final 66 to record his sixth career NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) victory and first checkered flag at the famed high-banked, half-mile speedway. The win also marked the first of the 2008 season for team owner Richard Childress in either of NASCAR's Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series.

Meanwhile, Bowyer rocketed from fifth to second in the NNS championship point standings. The Emporia, Kan., native is now just 49 markers behind leader Kevin Harvick, who will only run a partial schedule and isn't entered in next weekend's race in Nashville.

Rain forced NASCAR to set the field according to the rule book for the second week in a row and third time this year, affording Bowyer a starting spot on the outside of the second row.

A break in the weather offered Nationwide Series teams a 90-minute practice session Saturday morning. Bowyer paced the 43-car field in the weekend's lone warmup with a fast lap of 15.752 seconds (121.813 mph).

Heavy precipitation settled back into "Thunder Valley" approximately 30 minutes before driver's introductions postponing the green flag by a little more than two hours.

Once the race got underway, Bowyer was quick to the throttle and picked up one spot before the field completed the first lap. By lap eight has was second and stalking then-leader Denny Hamlin for the coveted position on top of the leaderboard. The NNS veteran driver powered by Hamlin on lap 38 and held off a spirited charge by Harvick before making his first trip to pit road during the day's first caution flag on lap 48.

Bowyer's crew chief Dan Deeringhoff called for a fresh set of Goodyear tires and full tank of fuel during the BB&T racing team's first pit sequence. Following a sporty 15-second stop, the burgundy, white and gold No. 2 machine was back underway, on the point, when green-flag racing resumed on lap 51.

Bowyer continued to pace the field over the next 42 circuits, all the while demonstrating craftsman-like precision while slicing his way through lapped traffic.

As the skies began to blacken, Deeringhoff's strategy began to take affect. According to NASCAR rules, a race can be considered official once it reaches halfway. With ominous weather looming, Deeringhoff called Bowyer back to pit road for tires and fuel during the afternoon's fifth caution on lap 95.

After three cars behind him chose not to pit under the yellow flag, the 2005 NNS championship runner-up restarted the event fourth but wasted little time getting back to the front. By lap 99 he was third and dispensed with Greg Biffle and teammate Scott Wimmer nine laps later to take over the lead for the third and final time of the rain-abbreviated event.

Over the closing 65 circuits, Bowyer kept his poise and stayed out of trouble despite several moving chicanes in the form of lapped traffic.

As the laps clicked off and the sky continued to darken, a hard-charging Kasey Kahne made his bid for the lead but Bowyer kept him at bay until NASCAR displayed the final caution flag on lap 163 of the scheduled 300-lap race when the rain finally came once and for all.

NASCAR red flagged the event on lap 171, and, for a moment, it looked like the rain would let up and racing would resume. However, just before 6:30 p.m. local time, the bottom fell out and the sanctioning body called the race official declaring Bowyer the winner.

Kahne was second, David Reutimann finished third, Brad Kesolowski was fourth and Mike Bliss rounded out the top-five finishers.

Next weekend, NASCAR's junior division makes its bi-annual visit to Nashville for it traditional Easter weekend stop just outside the Music City.

In seven starts at Nashville Superspeedway, Bowyer has an impressive 5.6 starting average and a staggering 2.7 finishing average. He boasts one win, three runner-up efforts, a third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes. Over that same span, he has yet to finish outside the top five. His lone start outside the top five was his second career start for RCR when he went on to finish fourth.

Flag-to-flag coverage of the Pepsi 300 from Nashville Superspeedway will be televised live on ESPN Saturday, March 22 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the sixth of 35 races on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule will be televised live on ESPN2 the same day at 11 a.m. EDT.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES 

"You take it any way you can get it. Kasey Kahne really raced me clean. He had the best car, but it's not always the best car that wins. As the track started rubbering up, the BB&T Chevrolet got really tight. The No. 9 (Kahne) was definitely faster than us and I appreciate him racing me clean. This is a race track that has always been special to me. It's just so much fun race on this short, high-energy race track. When you win here, you did your homework. We had a good car and were smart. Everything went right."