Bowyer, BB&T Racing Team Notch Top-Five at Daytona

Race/Date: Winn-Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola – July 4, 2008 - Location: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. - Start Position: Sixth - Finish Position: Fourth - Points Position: First – maintained position and increased point lead

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Clint Bowyer and the BB&T Racing team turned in a solid fourth-place performance in Friday night’s Winn Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway.

The strong performance was Bowyer’s eighth top-five finish and ninth consecutive top 10 in 19 races this season. At the same time, the six-time NASCAR Nationwide Series winner increased his point lead to 202 markers ahead of second-place Brad Keselowski. Carl Edwards sits in third, 218 points behind Bowyer, David Reutimann is fourth, 226 back and David Ragan is fifth, 325 out of the top spot.

During Friday afternoon’s qualifying session, Bowyer toured the historic two-and-a-half mile Daytona Beach tri-oval in 50.033 seconds (179.881 mph). The lap was good enough to line up the BB&T Chevy on the outside of the third row for Friday night’s main event for NASCAR’s junior circuit.

The green flag waved shortly after 8 p.m. local time and Bowyer wasted little time slicing his way to the front. By the time the 43-car field completed the first lap, the 29-year-old driver was up to second and on the point one lap later. The burgundy and gold No. 2 machine paced the field for the next six laps before being shuffled out of the lead on lap nine when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick drove by on the high side.

Bowyer held his ground in the top five for the opening 13 laps, despite a tight-handling condition, before the first of just three yellow flags waved when the No. 22 car of Josh Wise spun on the back straightaway.

Crew Chief Dan Deeringhoff seized the opportunity to call his driver to pit road on lap 15 for a fresh set of Goodyear tires, including air pressure changes to the left sides, and a chassis adjustment.

Back under green, now in ninth after a handful of other competitors opted for different pit strategies, Bowyer raced his way back into the top five and was second when the second yellow flag flew on lap 30.

Back on pit road two laps later, Deeringhoff chose to change nothing more than four tires after Bowyer informed his team the car was good following the opening round of service.

Green-flag racing resumed on lap 34 and over the next 45 trips around the famed “World Center of Racing,” the BB&T Chevrolet was shown anywhere from 11th to third on the scoreboard. Bowyer carefully sought out different racing lines in his bid to get back to the front but, in the end, the bottom proved to be the preferred line and the quick way around Daytona’s storied high banks.

Pit stops, under green-flag conditions began around the 75-lap mark, with Bowyer and the majority of the front-runners hitting pit lane with 21 laps remaining in the scheduled 100-lap Fourth of July contest.

After Bowyer mentioned a tight-handling condition during the long green-flag run, Deeringhoff called for another set of air pressure and chassis adjustments to help free up the No. 2 Chevy for the run to the checkered flag.

Over the closing laps, Bowyer raced back and forth between the fourth and fifth position and was in a nose-to-tail, four-car breakaway when the third and final caution flag waved when rookie Colin Braun nosed his No. 16 Ford into the backstretch wall two laps from the checkers.

A green-white-checkered-flag finish set the tone for the last two laps but Bowyer wasn’t able to position himself close enough to eventual winner Denny Hamlin for a shot at his second win of the year.

Kyle Busch finished second, Earnhardt Jr. was third, Bowyer was fourth and Keselowski rounded out the top five.

Bowyer’s Richard Childress Racing teammate Scott Wimmer ended up seventh in the final rundown.

Next weekend, NASCAR rolls into the Windy City for the annual double-header for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series’ at Chicagoland Speedway where Camping World colors will adorn Bowyer’s No. 2 entry.

The Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola will be televised live on ESPN Saturday, July 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 20th race on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule will be televised live on ESPN2 the same day beginning at 4 p.m. EDT.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTE

“It’s pretty tough to beat the No. 20 car right now. Whatever it is, they have something more than everyone else. It’s not fair right now. But, we still had a good run with the BB&T Chevrolet. I was a little bit tight but Dan (crew chief Dan Deeringhoff) got me freed up and we were able to make some moves and run up front. It was a good points night and anytime you can come out of Daytona with all four fenders intact and a top-five finish, you can’t be too disappointed.”