Top-Six Efforts Builds Momentum for Bowyer, DIRECTV Chevy in Atlanta

Race/Date: Kobalt Tools 500 - Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.
Start Position: Seventh - Finish Position: Sixth - Points Position: 16th – 
Gained seven positions

Hampton, Ga. – Clint Bowyer and the DIRECTV racing team pulled themselves out of a deep hole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings with a sixth-place run in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The spirited effort, which marked Bowyer and company’s first top-10 finish of 2008, lifted the group from the depths of the 20-somethings, to 16th in points for a net gain of seven positions.

Bowyer, third in last season’s final rundown, is now just 34 points behind Matt Kenseth in 12th, 42 behind Kurt Busch in 10th and a scant 55 markers outside of Brian Vickers 491 point tally who sits in ninth.

In addition to the solid finish, the Emporia, Kan., native and his No. 07 team recorded their best qualifying performance of the young season after lapping the mega-quick southern-Atlanta race course in 30.336 seconds (182.753 mph). The sporty lap was the seventh-quickest speed in Friday’s time trial session, lining up the DIRECTV Chevy on the inside of the fourth row for Sunday’s 500-miler.

At the drop of the green flag, under sunny but cool skies, Bowyer settled in to the top 10 and, once his tires came up to temperature and the air pressures began to build, he started his forward charge toward the leaders.

By lap 10 he was sixth, fifth five laps later and fourth when the first caution flag of the day flew on lap 38.

Gil Martin, crew chief of the DIRECTV Chevrolet Impala SS, summoned his driver to pit road one lap later for a fresh set of Goodyear tires, including air pressure and chassis adjustments to help ease the loose-handling condition Bowyer reported during the opening run.

A minor hiccup during the pit stop cost Bowyer a few spots and over the next 42 green-flag laps, the blue and white No. 07 machine mixed it up between eighth and sixth.

Following another trip to pit road for service during a yellow flag on lap 86, the he was back to sixth and inside the top five by lap 102.

Bowyer was back on pit road 114 laps in to the 325-lap race during the afternoon’s third yellow flag and after dynamite work by the DIRECTV over-the-wall crew, the No. 07 Chevy was fourth on the scoreboard when the green flag waved again four circuits later.

Over the next 50 green-flag laps, Bowyer sliced his way to the front, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr., teammate Kevin Harvick and eventual winner Kyle Busch for the top spot. Bowyer paced the field from lap 152-168 before heading to pit road under green-flag conditions for a fresh set of tires and a full load of fuel.

Once green-flag service cycled through the field, Bowyer was back on top of the scoreboard and led the race through lap 204.

He yielded the top spot to eventual winner Kyle Busch 110 laps from the checkered flag and raced in the third spot until lap 231 when Carl Edwards took over the position.

The decisive caution flag flew on lap 232 while Bowyer was fourth on the scoreboard. With only 10 laps separating the last pit stop, Martin opted to keep his driver on the racetrack when the leaders didn’t pit. Much to the chagrin of the driver and team, nearly every car behind the DIRECTV Chevrolet dove onto pit road.

With 10-lap older tires than drivers behind him, Bowyer gave up five spots between laps 236 and 244 but once the tires equalized, he held his ground inside the top eight.

When the eighth and final caution flag flew 43 laps short of the scheduled distance, Martin called his driver to the service lane one final time, calling for fresh tires, including an air pressure adjustment to the right sides and a final fill-up with fuel.

Now on the same tire cycle as the rest of the field, Bowyer was seventh when he left pit road and sixth 26 laps from the checkered flag. Over the closing laps, Bowyer and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon waged a lively battle on the race track but when the checkered flag waved, the position went to Gordon.

In the end, the day was nothing short of a success for Bowyer and his Martin-led crew.

Kyle Busch notched his first series win of 2008 over Tony Stewart, Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle and Gordon.

Bowyer’s Richard Childress Racing teammates Harvick and Jeff Burton finished the fourth race of the season seventh and 10th, respectively.

Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into “Thunder Valley” for one of the most sought-after tickets on the 36-race schedule.

Live coverage of the Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised on FOX Sunday, March 16 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the fifth of 36 points-paying races on the 2008 calendar will be televised live on SPEED Friday, March 14 beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide qualifying updates live.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“We just got behind on that one stop and stayed out. We should have pitted but hindsight is always 20/20. We had a lot of fun out there and it was a good day for the DIRECTV Chevrolet. We got things turned around and I’m happy. Me and (Jeff) Gordon there at the end, that is all I had. We were both out-of-control loose. I had a lot of fun out there racing with him. The DIRECTV Chevrolet was good. We were really strong in the middle of the race, for whatever reason, maybe the way the track conditions were. We just couldn’t get the car to handle quite that well at the end of the race. We learned a lot, gained a lot and that is what we need. It’s a lot of fun to lead these races and it’s always fun when you have a fast race car. That’s exactly what Gil (crew chief Gil Martin) and my guys gave me. So they deserve lots of credit for this finish.”