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CLINT BOWYER – 2017 Chicagoland Race Report

Event:               Tales of the Turtles 400 (Round 27 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois (1.5-mile oval)
Format:             267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:       11th/13th (Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 18th with 688 points 

Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

  • Clint Bowyer started 11th and finished 14th.
  • Bowyer reported brake problems early in the race. He said his car was also extremely loose.
  • Bowyer lost a lap to the leader in the final 10 laps of the stage but earned the free pass as the first car a lap down.
  • Crew made changes during the stage break to correct the handling issues.
  • Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
  • Bowyer started 14th and finished 13th.
  • Bowyer pitted from 13th on lap 121 for tires and fuel.
  • Bowyer was the last of the 13 cars on the lead lap at the end of the stage.
  • Crew thought the car was likely hitting its splitter during the stage.

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 161-267):

  • Bowyer started 13th and finished 13th.
  • Reported his car still wouldn’t turn like he needed in the opening laps of the stage.
  • Bowyer broke into the top-10 with 65 laps remaining.
  • Pitted with 56 laps remaining under caution for tires, fuel and handling adjustments, then restarted ninth.
  • Fell off the lead lap with less than 10 laps remaining.

Notes:

  • Martin Truex Jr. won the Tales of the Turtles 400 to score his 12th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his series-leading fifth of the season and his second at Chicagoland. His margin of victory over second-place Chase Elliott was 7.179 seconds.
  • There were four caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
  • Twelve of the 40 drivers in the Tales of the Turtles 400 finished on the lead lap.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We kind of went back and forth all day between loose and tight. I think we were on the splitter there for a while as well. We kept working on it but never really got it to where we needed it to be to race with the leaders.”

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the ISM Connect 300 on Sunday, Sept. 24 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. It is the second race of the 10-race playoffs, and it starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.