PIT ROAD PENALTY PROVES COSTLY FOR BOWYER, 
BB&T CHEVY AT ATLANTA

Race/Date: Nicorette 300 – March 8, 2008
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga. 
Start Position: Fourth - Finish Position: 19th - Points Position: Fifth – Gained one position

Hampton, Ga. – A pit road infraction proved costly for Clint Bowyer and the No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, ultimately resulting in a 19th-place finish in Saturday’s Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As Bowyer was making his entrance on to the service lane during green-flag pit stops just prior to the halfway mark, the Emporia, Kan., native clipped the pit road commitment cone resulting in a pass through penalty for the burgundy, white and gold BB&T Chevy. Under the circumstances of the penalty, he was forced to drive down pit road under green-flag conditions.

At the end of the day, the infraction cost Bowyer and company one lap but all wasn’t lost as the 28-year-old driver gained one spot, moving from sixth to fifth, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship point standings.

A wintry mix blew into the greater Atlanta area Saturday morning, forcing NASCAR to scrub qualifying for the second time this season. By rule, the sanctioning body set the 43-car field according to the final owner’s points from last season. As a result of Bowyer’s decision to run a full Nationwide Series schedule, RCR swapped owner’s point between its Nos. 2 and 21 entries prior to the season-opener affording the five-time Nationwide Series winner a starting spot on the outside of the second row.

He made a quick charge for the leaders, moving up to second, in the opening six laps but a tight-handling condition prevented him from gaining any more ground. By lap 26, he faded a handful of spots but still raced in and around the top six over the next 63 laps.

The consequential trip to pit road came on lap 90. As he peeled off Atlanta’s ultra-fast racing surface, he clipped the orange commitment pylon at the entrance to pit road, resulting in the ill-fated penalty.

For the remainder of the 300-mile event, Bowyer raced to get his lap back but eventually ran out of time and had to settle for a 19th-place finish.

Matt Kenseth won the race once a dominant Kyle Busch fell out of contention after cutting down a right-front tire late in the event. Kevin Harvick was second followed by Bowyer’s Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Jeff Burton. Carl Edwards was fourth and fellow RCR stablemate Bobby Labonte was fifth.

Next weekend marks the NASCAR Nationwide Series return to high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual running of the Sharpie Mini 300.

The fifth of 35 points-paying races on the 2008 Nationwide Series calendar will be televised live on ABC Saturday, March 15 beginning at 2 p.m. EDT. The race will be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 9:40 a.m. local time.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“That was my mistake today. The BB&T Chevrolet was easily a top-10 car but I screwed up getting on to pit road and that wound up costing us a lap. We still gained a spot in the points so we can’t complain about that. We’ll go on and try to win at Bristol next week.”