BRISTOL, Tenn. – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran Clint Bowyer gutted it out Sunday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway to earn his first top-10 finish of the season in the Food City 500.
Utilizing the beneficiary of a free pass following the sixth caution flag of the day on Lap 218, Bowyer driving the No. 15 5hour Energy Chevrolet for HScott Motorsports fought for every position on the track to earn his first top-10 finish since an eighth-place finish at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last October.
After qualifying a distant 36th on Friday afternoon, the perception was that Bowyer and his Harry Scott-owned team would be in for a brutal day of competition. However, much to their credit, the Emporia, Kansas native fought a relentless battle of track position, a battled that earned the team some much welcomed time in the spotlight with an eighth place finish.
“It was a good finish and I’m proud of the finish,” said Bowyer. “We had some luck which helped but proud of the result and good that the 5-hour ENERGY Chevrolet was able to get a top 10 today.”
While Bowyer seemed rather subdued with the end result, team owner Scott praised his team for their efforts on Sunday. “Hey guys, I’m proud of all of you,” Scott told the crew over the radio. “You gutted it out today — and guts aren’t pretty. But God damn it, I’m proud of you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you, you can’t do it.”
Bettering a previous-best 18th place finish at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway in March, Bowyer jumped three spots in the championship standings to 29th, 64 points from the Chase cutoff in 16th.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
