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Kansas no home sweet home for Bowyer
By admin | September 29, 2008
By Richard Allen
Clint Bowyer hails from Emporia, Kansas and no doubt had the Camping World 400 circled on his schedule for a long time. The race offered him an opportunity to compete in front of the home folks and to make up some ground in the Chase for the Championship standings.
Also, it would provide an opportunity for Bowyer to make for a somewhat controversial finish last year in this same event. Bowyer’s #07 car was actually the first to cross the finish line a year ago but the win was awarded to Greg Biffle despite the fact that Biffle’s leading car slowed dramatically as the field rolled to the finish line under caution.
In this year’s version of the Camping World 400, Bowyer had trouble from the very outset. He was black flagged immediately after the initial green flag for passing before the start of the race.
It appeared as though the native of Kansas would claw his way out of that early hole until another NASCAR penalty was levied. The #07 was running inside the Top 10 when Bowyer was caught for speeding on pit road during pit stops under a caution that had waved on lap 217. This time, the penalty was too much to overcome.
Bowyer was only able to manage a 12th place finish. Last year’s surprise Chase contender now finds himself in 7th place of the standings. He is 164 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly column appears in The Mountain Press every Wednesday.
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