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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Bowyer Gets Edge On Martin
The 12th spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings changed hands at Michigan International Speedway...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted August 16, 2010   Brooklyn, MI
Clint Bowyer moved into 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. (Photo: Getty Images)
Mark Martin got into the wall, got into the back of Scott Speed and got himself on the outside looking in as far as the top 12 of the Sprint Cup Series point standings Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: CARFAX 400 - MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
PDF > UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: CARFAX 400 - MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Martin started the day 10 points ahead of Clint Bowyer for the 12th spot in the standings but couldn’t hold on to the coveted position as he finished 28th in the Carfax 400.

It could have been a day when Martin built a lead on Bowyer instead of falling to 13th in the standings and 35 points behind him with three races left before the 12-driver Chase For The Sprint Cup field is set.

Bowyer finished 13th after a four-tire stop late in the race put him mid-pack and he could only make a few passes during the final 28-lap green-flag run.

Not happy with his day, Bowyer at least could take solace in that 13th was good enough to get to 12th.

As for Martin, he plans to put his head down and race with Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond stops left before the Chase begins.

“I don’t know what [my chances] are,” said the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who was the 2009 runnerup. “We’ll keep digging. I don’t know. Every race is a new race.”

Martin got into the wall and then rammed the back of Red Bull Racing’s Scott Speed in the first 50 laps of the 200-lap race.

The contact caused significant damage to the front splitter of Martin’s Chevrolet.

“[Speed] lifted for Juan [Pablo Montoya] and I didn’t know it was time to lift yet and I pounded him pretty hard and that really messed it up,” Martin said. “But I put us behind anyway earlier in the race getting up against the outside wall. So we got a little behind because of that too.

“I’ll call it my mistake, but we are racing hard. And that was a case of me racing too hard, too early for sure. But that would have been too hard even late because it messed me up – it would have messed me up late or early. I was charged up and excited and amped up when the race started and had to hammer down a little bit more than I had control of my car.”

By the end of the race, Martin was happy with his car, which had qualified 12th.

“My guys did an awesome job,” Martin said. “The car was really fast the last run but it took us the whole race to fix up my mistake. … We’re going to race hard like we did today and try not to have any more scrapes but we’re going to go down swinging and that’s what we did today.”

Bowyer, who sounded frustrated on his in-car radio, exited the track quickly after the event. He ran in the top 10 for the first three-quarters of the race.

“Clint still is pretty wired,” team owner Richard Childress said after the race. “The pressure that goes along with where he’s sitting now, we’ve sat in that situation before going into Richmond. It’s a tough deal, tough on the drivers.
Mark Martin raises some interesting points about points racing. (Photo: Getty Images)

“He and I are going to talk tomorrow. Hopefully we can do some things that will get him focused in on what he’s got to accomplish these next three races. It’s a lot about being right there and having the focus and concentration.”

It appears the final spot in the Chase could come down to Bowyer and Martin as 11th-place Greg Biffle has a 193-point cushion on Bowyer.

While Martin is just 35 points back, Ryan Newman is 103 points behind, with Jamie McMurray (105 points behind), Kasey Kahne (126) and Dale Earnhardt Jr.. (150) the only others within 150 points.

“That’s going to be a battle,” Childress said. “It’s not just racing two guys. It’s about four guys that can still win that [spot].”

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: CARFAX 400 - MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
PDF > UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: CARFAX 400 - MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

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Bob Pockrass

SceneDaily.com

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