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CLINT BOWYER – 2017 New Hampshire I Race Report

Event:               Overton’s 301 (Round 19 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Format:             301 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/151 laps)
Start/Finish:      19th/7th (Running, completed 301 of 301 laps)
Point Standing: 10th (526 points, 232 out of first)

Race Winner:    Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-75):

  • Clint Bowyer started 19th, finished 16th.
  • Climbed to 10th before the competition caution at lap 35.
  • Reported the car was hard to turn in the final laps of the stage.
  • Pitted under caution with two laps remaining so he could stay on track during the break to get a better Stage 2 starting spot.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 75-150):

  • Started seventh and finished 10th to earn one race point.
  • Car would start slow but turn top-five laps in the final laps of a green flag run.
  • Turned third-quickest lap on the track on lap 145.
  • Bowyer asked crew for adjustments for better restarts and racing in traffic. 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 151-301):

  • Started eighth, finished seventh.
  • Drove by Jimmie Johnson on lap 196 for seventh place and passed Kevin Harvick for sixth on lap 216, then climbed to fifth.
  • Bowyer again turned top lap times in the final laps of long, green-flag runs. His was the fastest car on track on lap 206.
  • Green-flag pit stop on lap 236 slowed Bowyer’s progress when his car slid outside the pit box, dropping the No. 14 several spots.
  • Drove from 15th to seventh in the final 35 laps of the race.

Notes:

  • Bowyer remains 15th in the 16-driver playoff standings.
  • This was Bowyer’s eighth top-10 finish in 23 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire.
  • Denny Hamlin won the Overton’s 301 to score his 30th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his third at New Hampshire.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Nature’s Bakery/Feeding America Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We are disappointed. We lost a chance to finish, but it just locked up on me pitting, and we lost spots. We had a good car today. We still think we need to win to make the Chase, and we’ll go to Indy next week with every intention of winning.”

Next Up:                                                                     

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 23 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC.