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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: RCR Drivers Place, Show
Clint Bowyer on Sunday continued to show he deserves to be mentioned among the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship hopefuls...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 01, 2009   Las Vegas, NV
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet, earnned a hard-fought second place, one position ahead of his Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Clint Bowyer on Sunday continued to show he deserves to be mentioned among the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship hopefuls, while his teammate Jeff Burton finally got untracked in the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bowyer and Burton engaged in a spirited three-way fight for the race victory with winner Kyle Busch, with Bowyer ultimately earning a hard-fought second place, one position ahead of his Richard Childress Racing teammate Burton. The strong effort moved Bowyer into second place in points behind Jeff Gordon, while Burton jumped all the way from 31st to 18th after two disastrous opening races.

For very different reasons, both Bowyer and Burton were able to walk away from Vegas satisfied and confident with their efforts — Bowyer because his race kept him high in the points, Burton because his moved him out of the basement. All told, that made for an excellent afternoon for the RCR squad, especially with Kevin Harvick scoring a respectable 12th-place effort. The only sour note was the 30th-place run by Casey Mears.

Bowyer’s crew chief Shane Wilson made a bold decision on Lap 260 of the 285-lap race, opting not to pit while the rest of the field came in for fuel and tires on the 12th of an event-record 14 cautions. That put the No. 33 RCR Chevrolet on point for the first time on the day. But Busch muscled by him on Lap 269, hollering on his radio, “Good night, Gracie!” as he took the lead for good.

“He had a good strategy there to stay out on his old tires,” racer-winner Busch said of Bowyer. “He knew what to expect with his car. He wasn't the fastest car because of those tires, not having any. We were able to have just a little bit better grip than he did and pass him.”

Still, it was a stout run for the RCR teammates, with Burton and Bowyer trading second-place in the race’s closing laps, with Bowyer ultimately taking the spot and scoring his second top-five finish in three races to go with the fourth-place run he had in the Daytona 500. Bowyer also extended a 76-race streak of running at the finish that began at Homestead in the final race of the 2006 season. Bowyer’s last DNF came at Phoenix on November 12, 2006 where he finished 33rd due to oil pump failure.

“Give credit where credit is due,” said Bowyer. “Shane Wilson, that is where he shines. He studies his pit strategy and things for these races really hard and it paid off for us. The Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet ... that is what you gotta to do. You gotta keep diggin'. We went a lap down, got that back. Got run in to on a restart, got that repaired and got back up there. Shane got us a good call and a good finish.”

The result was even bigger for Burton, who led 61 laps in the Vegas Shootout, second only to Jimmie Johnson’s 92. And given that he hadn’t finished higher than 28th in the first two races of 2009, he was ready for a good finish.

“Real proud of all our guys,” said Burton. “Hell of a rebound today to come back from where we ran last week and everybody just kept their head up and kept digging. I'm real proud of them for that. It's real easy to quit and give up when things are going badly. Our guys never do that."

LAS VEGAS NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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