MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Clint Bowyer may have not won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the second consecutive year – but the Stewart-Haas Racing driver probably felt like he did after rebounding from two mid-race penalties to finish seventh in Sunday’s STP 500.
Bowyer had a strong car throughout Stage 1 and Stage 2 but during pit stops at Lap 314 and Lap 374, Bowyer was popped for speeding twice both in section 10 which sent the Emporia, Kansas native to the rear of the field.
After the first penalty, Bowyer came outside the top-20 to 13th before being sent to the rear of the field for the Lap 380 restart. Methodically, Bowyer inched his No. 14 Mobil 1 | Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang forward.
By Lap 350, Bowyer had worked his back to 10th and over the final 50 circuits of the race was able to pick off three more positions to finish seventh joining his three other Stewart-Haas Racing teammates inside the top-10 in the first short track race of the year.
“I guess we need to get our stuff together on being on the same page with that pit road speed,” said Bowyer. “It’s such an important thing and such a big part of this style of racing, where track position is everything. We push it to the limit, but it’s so hard to practice pit road speed. You’ve got trucks on pit road when you’re trying to practice that.
“I’m not making any excuses, it’s just when you’re trying to pinch every little thing out of it, it was hard this week to practice pit road speed because of all the stuff on pit road.”
Bowyer didn’t believe he had a race-winning Ford Mustang, but he did believe his race car was fast enough to contend for a top-three finish.
“I don’t think anybody obviously had anything for the 2 (Brad Keselowski) or the 9 (Chase Elliott) made some adjustments there early and was really fast,” added Bowyer. “I think we were a top-three car for sure, but we kept beating ourselves.”
The 10-time Cup winner earned his second top-10 finish of the year and jumped from 15th to 13th in the standings heading to Texas Motor Speedway on March 31.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
