Bowyer Claims Rain-Shortened Victory In Sharpie Mini 300 Saturday At BMS

BRISTOL, Tenn. - It's impossible to perform a rain dance while sitting inside a race car, so perhaps Clint Bowyer timed his prayer for rain just right.

Bowyer skirted around Scott Wimmer and Greg Biffle on lap 106, and then held off a furious charge from Kasey Kahne until the red flags fell to earn a rain-shortened victory in the Sharpie Mini 300 on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"You take it any way you can get it," said an umbrella-toting Bowyer on pit row after the race was called. "Kasey Kahne really raced me clean; he really had the best car, but it's not always the best car that wins."

Down the stretch, Kahne appeared fastest, as he caught up with Bowyer on lap 136 and remained on his bumper the rest of the way. More than once, Kahne made a move to get around Bowyer, but each time the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet managed to use slower cars to divert and hold Kahne off.

With both drivers racing as though they expected the end to come early, Kahne could have taken extra initiative and - in traditional BMS fashion - bumped Bowyer aside, but chose not to, a fact Kahne appeared to regret later.

"I had the best car," a remorseful Kahne said during the delay. "I should be in the lead. I pretty much blew that one. I should have pressed the issue a little more. I shouldn't have let him have it."

For his part, Bowyer was appreciative of Kahne's tact.

"As the track started rubbering up I got really tight," Bowyer said. "The No. 9 was definitely faster than us . I appreciate him racing me clean."

For most on Saturday, the real opponent was the rain. Those who were up front as the clouds grew more ominous sought to secure a spot up front and play for track position when the skies turned dark, while others hoped to make adjustments that would improve their cars when - or if - the race was restarted.

"If it goes green again, we're great," defending champion Carl Edwards said after the red flag fell. At the time, Edwards sat 14th after running near the front much of the day. Most of the top 10 made no changes in the final few laps under yellow, but some, like Edwards, changed tires and topped off their fuel in the hopes they wouldn't need to pit again if the race went the distance.

"I didn't think this would stop us, so we got fresh tires. Two guys in front of us do, but everyone else has 60-lap tires, so it could be good."

It got no better. The rain held, and Edwards finished 14th.

Dan Deeringhoff, Bowyer's crew chief, had his mind made up from the start how his team would handle the weather.

"At the start of the race, I told Clint we were gonna try to get the lead and lead at 150 [laps]," he said. "I could see on our radar that rain was coming."

Deeringhoff also relied on human help to gauge the weather.

"The best radar I had was Jimmy Kitchens, who kept looking up and telling me what was going on," Deeringhoff said of his spotter, himself a former Nationwide Series driver. "It did what it did, and here we are."

Only three drivers led - Bowyer, pole-sitter Wimmer and Denny Hamlin, who led the first 37 laps after starting second. Hamlin was sent to the pits by a flat tire, then was black-flagged on Lap 71 for a missing lug nut. He went on to finish 26th.

"We must have punctured something on the tire," Hamlin said. "It seems like we can't catch a break here on the Cup side or the Nationwide side."

Despite Kahne and Bowyer's battle technically coming halfway through the race, both said Bowyer did what he could to block Kahne's path.

"If it were 40 laps into the race, of course I would have moved over," Bowyer said. "But at that point, you're basically racing for a win."

For his part, Kahne had several opportunities to make his own breaks, but didn't. Again, concern that the race would go the distance factored in.

"[Bowyer] did everything he had to do - everything he should do," Kahne said. "I was in position to pass him, but I would have had to beat up my car a little bit to do it, and I was nervous that if the race kept going I would screw [the car] up and not have a shot later."

Kahne's shot passed him by, and Bowyer had his sixth-career Nationwide win, one which propelled him up three spots in the series standings behind leader Kevin Harvick.

More important to Bowyer, though, was the trophy with the words "Bristol Motor Speedway" on it.

"This is a race track that has always been special to me," he said. "It's just so much fun race on this short, high-energy race track. When you win here, you did your homework, had a good car and were smart.

"Everything went right."

Even the weather - perhaps thanks to a carefully placed prayer.

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