Skip to content

CLINT BOWYER – 2019 Las Vegas I Race Report

Event: Las Vegas 400(Round 3 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway(1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish: 17th/14th (Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Point Standing:   13th with 83 points, 50 out of first

Race Winner:      Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner:  Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner:  Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

Started 17th and finished 16th.
● Dropped to 25th in opening laps to avoid three- and four-wide racing.
● Crew made changes to tighten the car during a lap-40 pit stop.
● Climbed to 16th by lap 65, but Bowyer reported he couldn’t pass.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):

Started 18th and finished 15th.
● Crew made major changes before the stage to trim out the No. 14 and give Bowyer more speed.
● Bowyer reported the changes improved the car, and he climbed to 13th.
● The tightness returned later in the stage, dropping Bowyer to 18th, but handling changes propelled him to 15th in the closing laps.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 161-267):

Started 15th and finished 14th.
● Bowyer climbed to 12th in the opening laps of the last stage and moved to 10th by lap 190.
● Pitted under green with 52 laps remaining for tires and fuel as well as handling adjustments.
● Bowyer reported his car remained tight in the final laps of the race before finishing 14th.

Notes:                   

●  Bowyer earned his second top-15 finish of the season seventh top-15 in 15 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
●  Joey Logano won the Las Vegas 400 to score his 22nd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas. His margin of victory over second-place Brad Keselowski was .236 of a second.
●  There were two caution periods for a total of 12 laps.
●  Only 18 of the 38 drivers in the Las Vegas 400 finished on the lead lap.
●  Logano leaves Las Vegas as the championship leader with a six-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 One Cure Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“That was a tough afternoon for us. We made a lot of changes throughout the weekend, but we fought tight most of the race. We trimmed our car out and got it a bit better, but it was tough to pass today, real tough. We have a lot of work to do, but Phoenix next week will be better.”

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the TicketGuardian 500k on Sunday, March 10 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its prerace show at 3 p.m.