Sun May 4 00:24:18 2008

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Bowyer wins wild one at Richmond

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Richmond, VA (Sports Network) - Clint Bowyer took advantage of a late crash to capture Saturday night's Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. The No.07 Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 0.439 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch.

The victory was Bowyer's first of the season and second of his "Cup" career.

Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top-five.

Chesterfield, VA native Denny Hamlin was in complete control of the race all night until the end.

With 20 laps to go Hamlin started to slow down considerably. Hamlin's crew reported that his right-front tire was going flat. Hamlin decided to stay on the track though.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Busch caught Hamlin with 18 to go. Coming off turn two the drivers went three-wide. Earnhardt zoomed past Hamlin on the outside to take the lead as Busch passed Hamlin on the inside. Hamlin fell through the field.

Hamlin's decision not to pit turned against him when his right-front tire went flying with 10 laps remaining.

Earnhardt led Busch, Bowyer, Martin and Stewart to the five to go in the restart.

With three laps remaining, Busch battled hard for first. The drama unfolded in turn four when Busch made a push from the inside lane and spun out Earnhardt Bowyer found himself in first when the caution flag flew.

Bowyer led Busch, Martin, Stewart and Truex to the green-white-checkered finish.

All Bowyer needed was a good restart and that's what he got. Busch and Martin battled behind Bowyer to allow him to easily cruise into Victory Lane.

Hamlin led 381 laps, but finished in a disappointing 24th.

Busch currently holds an 18-point lead on Jeff Burton in the standings. Earnhardt is third, 104 points back.

Hamlin brought the 43-car field to the green flag for 400 laps of short track racing.

The No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver enjoyed a comfortable two-second lead early as Martin, Truex, Reed Sorenson and Kasey Kahne battled behind him.

Hamlin wasted no time in putting drivers a lap down. And on lap 45 Hamlin put Jeff Gordon, who was running 36th, a lap down. Gordon had to start the race in the last position due to a ignition change before the race.

Hamlin's margin was erased on lap 64 due to the first caution flag that was brought out by Johnny Sauter. The first round of pit stops took place during the caution period.

A solid stop by Hamlin allowed him to maintain the first spot. Martin, Truex, Busch and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five.

Hamlin built his lead again when the race went back to green on lap 72. Sadler and Truex. fell back after the restart. Sadler eventually found himself outside of the top-10. This allowed Kevin Harvick and Earnhardt. to make their presence felt. They drove their way to the fourth and fifth spot after 95 laps.

Harvick made his way to third as Hamlin continued his dominant run. The fast pace to the race started to slow when the second caution flag of the night came out on lap 128 for debris.

After a round of pit stops for the leaders, Hamlin led, Martin, Harvick, Busch and Earnhardt. The top-five remained the same when the next caution came out on lap 139 due to Juan Pablo Montoya crashing into the wall. This put Gordon back on the lead lap.

Hamilin put a three-second gap between himself and Martin after 170 laps. After 200 laps of racing, the midway point, the top-five read: Hamlin, Martin, Busch, Earnhardt and Truex. The margin for Hamlin was over five seconds.

The big lead was erased on lap 204 when Regan Smith and AJ Allmendinger brought out the fourth caution flag. Hamlin led the leaders down pit road for pit stops under the caution period.

On lap 230 a multi-car crash occurred. The wreck started when J.J. Yeley hit the outside wall and started to collect numerous cars. A few seconds later, Patrick Carpentier hit the inside wall and drivers started to pile up behind him. A total of 11 cars were involved in the wreck. The race went to red flag conditions so the track could be cleaned.

Harvick, Earnhardt, Stewart, Bowyer and Casey Mears decided to take pit stops during the caution period following the big crash.

The race went back to green flag conditions on lap 238. Hamlin led Martin, Busch and Truex. On lap 243 Gordon entered the top-five when he passed Kahne.

On lap 260 Allmendinger and Michael McDowell brought out the seventh caution flag.

The rest of the field's frustration continued as Hamlin had another great pit stop and restart to maintain the top position. With 100 laps remaining the top-five read: Hamlin, Busch, Earnhardt, Martin and Bowyer.

Hamlin's gap was slowly cut into by Busch. He was able to keep the lead just under one second. But Hamlin didn't let the drama last for too long as he increased the advantage to back over one second. Earnhardt. followed behind the action in third.

With 46 laps to go Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip got together to bring out the caution flag. The last pit stops for the leaders took place during the caution.

Hamlin had another perfect stop as Busch, Earnhardt, Martin and Bowyer followed behind out of the pits. The race went back to green with 40 laps remaining, but five laps later Jamie McMurray brought out the caution flag.

Hamlin held onto his lead during the restart. Behind Hamlin, Earnhardt battled for second and eventually took the spot away from Busch.

The next race in the series is set for Saturday night, May 10th at the Darlington Raceway.