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CLINT BOWYER – 2018 Kentucky Race Report

Event: Kentucky 400 (Round 19 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kentucky Speedway in Sparta(1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:        8th/12th (Running, completed 267 of 267)
Point Standing:   6th (629 points, 170 out of first)

Race Winner:      Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner:  Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner:  Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Ended at Lap 80):

Bowyer started eighth and finished sixth to earn five bonus points.
Held position in early going but told crew his car was loose in and out of the turns and tight in the middle.
Turned fastest lap on lap 38.
Pitted at the halfway mark and climbed to sixth before the stage’s end.

Stage 2 Recap (Ended at Lap 160):

Bowyer started 11th and finished sixth to earn another five bonus points.
Took two tires on a lap-111 pit stop.
Crew continued to work to free the car in the center of the turns.

Stage 3 Recap (Ended at Lap 267):

Bowyer started eighth and finished 12th.
Avoided a near multicar accident in the opening laps of the stage.
Dropped to 11th with 50 laps remaining.
Continued to battle a tight-handling car and finished the race in 12th.

Notes:

● Bowyer finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn an additional five bonus points.
● Martin Truex Jr. won the Kentucky 400 to score his 19th career Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his second at Kentucky. His margin of victory over second-place Ryan Blaney was 1.901 seconds.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 22 laps.
● Only 21 of the 39 drivers in the Kentucky 400 finished on the lead lap.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation VF-1 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“That was a tough night for us. We worked to get our car to turn better in the middle, but couldn’t get it to where we wanted it. We ran most of the night in the top six so it’s disappointing to finish 12th.”