Top 10 finish for Bowyer, BB&T Chevy at Martinsville

Martinsville, Va. – Clint Bowyer kept his recent string of top-10 finishes in tact with a 10th-place effort in Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

The solid run was a Bowyer's third consecutive top-10 finish in as many races this season and one position shy of his series best showing at Martinsville’s tricky, half-mile – a staple on the Sprint Cup Series tour dating back to 1949. At the same time, BB&T enjoyed a top-10 finish in its first outing as a primary sponsor in NASCAR’s top division.

Bowyer currently leads in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings with the No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet.

Despite his stout performance, the Emporia, Kan., native fell from ninth to 12th in the Sprint Cup Series points but still sits just six markers out of 10th, 46 behind seventh-place Kasey Kahne and a mere 91 markers behind Kyle Busch’s fifth-place tally.

Meanwhile, the 28-year-old driver recorded a division-best qualifying effort on Friday afternoon, lapping the paper clip-shaped oval in 19.889 seconds (95.208 mph). Eighteen cars later, teammate Kevin Harvick duplicated Bowyer’s time leaving him with the 12th starting spot for Sunday’s race by virtue of Harvick’s third-place points standing leading into the event. Prior to Sunday, Bowyer’s best Sprint Cup Series start at the .526-mile track was 21st which came in both races at Martinsville last season.

Bowyer was quick to the throttle during the opening laps, showing in eighth before the first of 18 caution flags on the day waved on lap 20. He maintained his footing in the top 10 throughout the opening segment before making his initial pit stop during the second yellow flag on lap 45.

Back under green, now in 17th after falling in line behind those who pitted during the first caution, he spent the next 58 circuits making up for lost ground and re-establishing his footing in the top 10.

Bowyer headed back to the attention of his Gil Martin-led BB&T crew during the afternoon’s fifth yellow for a fresh set of tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Following ultra-quick service on pit road, the BB&T Chevy was up to seventh when the green flag flew on lap 110.

He battled a lack of grip exiting Martinsville’s flat turns over the next 70 laps and faded to 13th but another pit stop on lap 180 helped ease Bowyer’s handling issues allowing him to work his way back into the top 10 just prior to the event’s halfway mark.

He maintained a stronghold on 10th until lap 296 when a handful of cars running ahead of Bowyer’s burgundy and gold No. 07 machine got together, moving him up to sixth when the green flag was displayed again on lap 301.

The 2007 championship contender ran sixth for the next 27 circuits until Tony Stewart, who was ahead of Bowyer at the time, pitted, handing the No. 07 team fifth.

Back on pit road, 139 laps from the checkered flag, for tires, including air pressure adjustments to the left-sides and fuel, Bowyer took the green flag eighth after the top-three chose not to pit. It only took seven laps to dispense of those on old tires and the BB&T Chevy was back to fifth on lap 374.

He made his final pit stop of the day on lap 386 for tires and fuel but, yet again, Bowyer lost four spots when a handful of teams, including then leader and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Jeff Burton, opted not to pit.

With track position always at a premium at the dicey half-mile, the final trip to pit lane didn’t work out quite as well as Martin and company had hoped. Bowyer faded as low as 11th in the closing stages but raced his way back to 10th before the end of the race. While the effort left the team itching for a better result, the top 10 was still Bowyer’s best finish at Martinsville in a Sprint Cup Series car and a worthwhile accomplishment for the young driver.

Virginia native Denny Hamlin won the race over four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. Burton finished third and took over the points lead in NASCAR’s foremost division. Defending champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth with Carl Edwards rounding out the top five.

Fellow RCR teammate Kevin Harvick finished 12th and moved into second in points. Burton and Harvick are now first and second in pursuit of their first Sprint Cup Series championship.

The stars of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series will be big and bright next weekend as the premier division in American motorsports heads for the Lone Star State and the first of two stops at Texas Motor Speedway.

Live coverage of the Samsung 500 begins Sunday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The event will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the seventh event on the 2008 tour is scheduled to take the green-flag Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m. EDT and will be telecast live on SPEED. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live qualifying updates.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“We ran better than 10th. I was hoping for a top-five with the BB&T Chevy for a little while but it just wasn't meant to be. That was still my best finish at Martinsville in a Cup car so I am happy about that. Track position is so important at Martinsville and that’s what really kept us from a top five. We gave up a lot of ground when we pitted the last time and just couldn’t make it back up."