Bowyer, BB&T Chevy Hang Tough for Top-10 in Richmond

Race/Date: Lipton Tea 250 – May 2, 2008 - Location: Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va. - Start Position: Fifth - Finish Position: Ninth - 
Points Position: First (Maintained Position)

RICHMOND, Va. – Despite struggling with a temperamental-handling BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, Clint Bowyer kept his cool and turned in a ninth-place finish in Friday night’s Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

At the same time, Bowyer was able to maintain the NASCAR Nationwide Series points lead but still gave up 26 markers to second-place Carl Edwards. Bowyer leads Edwards by a slim one-point margin heading into this weekend’s race in Darlington, S.C.

Bowyer qualified fifth, ran near the top five early on but faded deeper in the top 10 as the race progressed due to a loose-handling condition which, ultimately, handicapped his ability to climb the leaderboard.

After falling as deep as 11th late in the race, the six-time Nationwide Series winner gouged his way back inside the top 10 to finish ninth, his eighth top-10 finish in 11 events this season.

Denny Hamlin won the race beating two-time division champion Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag by just over three-quarters of a second. Kyle Busch was third, David Ragan was fourth and Steve Wallace finished fifth.

Next weekend, the Nationwide Series heads to Darlington as NASCAR’s No. 2 division takes on the newly repaved “Track Too Tough Too Tame.”

Live television coverage of the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 from Darlington Raceway will take the green flag Friday, May 9 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be televised on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 12th round of the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship will be televised live on SPEED the same day at 3 p.m. EDT. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will air qualifying updates live.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“We were a little bit off with the BB&T Chevrolet. We were a top-10 car but that’s about all the old girl had. We need to pick up our program a little bit so we can start racing for wins and not just top 10s. We’ve got the summer stretch coming up so we need to get back on our game.”