BRISTOL, Tenn. – Both Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) cars came to play Saturday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but what no one expected was the two cars to tangle late in the race, sending one to the garage and the other to pit road for repairs.
Following the fifth caution flag of the night for Kyle Larson’s crash on the frontstretch, the restart saw teammates Clint Bowyer and David Ragan comfortably inside the top-five. However, three laps after taking the green flag, hard racing between three cars saw Bowyer make contact with Ragan’s No. 55 – enough to send the Unadilla, Georgia native careening towards the inside backstretch wall.
Ragan’s damage was enough to take his No. 55 Aarons Toyota Camry to the garage, while Bowyer feeling disgusted about the on-track incident forced to come to pit road for repairs.
While Bowyer felt guilty for the contact between him and Ragan, Jimmie Johnson precipitated in triggering the contact when the three cars found themselves racing hard in Turn 2 on Lap 370 of 500 in the 55th annual IRWIN Tools Night Race.
As Johnson came down the track, Ragan came down as well and into the right-front of Bowyer. Damage to the radiator sent Ragan behind the wall for repairs. He later return to the race, salvaging a disappointing 40th place finish.
“It looks like (Johnson) jumped to our outside and I was racing for position and then Clint was on the inside,” Ragan said. “I feel bad because I know Clint can’t afford anything bad to happen.”
Moments after Ragan spun, contact between Keselowski and Bowyer sent the No. 15 around in Turn 4, sending the Emporia, Kansas native to pit road for damage assessment.
Without major damage, he returned for the Lap 380 restart and muscled back for a fifth-place finish, his best run since a third at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June.
“You hate to have that good of a car – have two good cars and the last person you want to get into and have trouble with is your teammate. I’m sick to death about that,” said Bowyer. “We had two top-five cars and MWR really needed that run. With that being said we desperately needed a solid run right there. I mean obviously you’re hungry for a win with this organization given everything it had and I drove my ass off we just come up short.
“I’m really proud of all of these guys on the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota. They’re digging man. It’s fun to be a part of this. It’s fun to be a part of a group that can answer the call when you gotta dig down and reach down a little bit more to get in that Chase and be a part of that elite group. These guys are up for the challenge.”
With just three races remaining in the regular season entering Bristol, neither driver had a win and was locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The matter comes on the heels of Friday’s announcement that MWR would cease operations of any full-time entries in the Cup Series in the 2016 season.
Heading into Darlington in two weeks, the penultimate race in the regular season, Bowyer sits 15th in the championship standings, the final driver likely assured a Chase spot without a win, with a 35 point cushion over his next challenger, Aric Almirola.
“This was a big night for us,” said Bowyer. “We needed this. Driver got us behind last weekend after Michigan, but man, when you step up to the plate like this and you’re running at the level that it takes to be a part of the championship caliber elite group like you have in the Chase.
“You don’t want to just go into that Chase and be a part of it and be the first guy out, you want to go into that Chase with some confidence and momentum and some good runs where you can maybe go a few rounds in there. Great night for us given everything that’s happened this week this was certainly what we needed as a group, as an organization to have two cars run in the top-five.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
