Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-85):
● Clint Bowyer started 24th and finished second, earning nine bonus points.
● Bowyer wheeled the No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang up to 14th when the caution flag waved on lap 16.
● Pitted for four tires and fuel while under caution on lap 17, and then returned to pit road on lap 18 to top off with fuel.
● Was 30th for lap-19 restart.
● When caution came out again on lap 44, Bowyer stayed out while others pitted. He went from 14th to first.
● Led the field to green on lap-47 restart and held the point for 36 laps.
● Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick took lead from Bowyer on lap-85 restart.
● After finishing second at end of stage, pitted for four tires, fuel and a left-rear wedge adjustment.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 86-170):
● Bowyer started 21st and finished 12th.
● Green-flag pit stops began on lap 134, whereupon Bowyer was running 14th.
● Made scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 154 for right-side tires and fuel.
● At the conclusion of the stage, pitted for left-side tires and fuel.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 171-334):
● Bowyer started sixth and finished 11th.
● Keyed mic on lap 181 and said, “It’s a little looser like this.”
● Dropped to ninth when the caution flag flew on lap 187. Stayed out and maintained track position.
● As day changed to night and track cooled, Bowyer fell down the leaderboard. Was 12th on lap 200 and then 15th by lap 212.
● The No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang seemed to stabilize with a little more than 100 laps remaining, as Bowyer climbed to 13th by lap 225 and 12th by lap 231.
● Made scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 235 for four tires and fuel.
● Was caught a lap down on lap 243 when Bubba Wallace spun to bring out caution. Bowyer took wave-around to return to lead lap, albeit in 19th for lap-248 restart.
● Made scheduled, fuel-only pit stop under green on lap 305 while running in 13th.
● “Tight!” said Bowyer about his racecar on lap 311.
● Climbed to 11th in final 23 laps of the AAA Texas 500.
Notes:
● Bowyer earned his 20th top-12 of the season and his 14th top-12 in 28 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas.
● This is Bowyer’s second consecutive top-12 at Texas. He finished second in the series’ previous visit to the track in March.
● Bowyer led once times for 36 laps to increase his laps-led total at Texas to 124.
● Harvick won the AAA Texas 500to score his 49th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Texas – all of which have come in the last three AAA Texas 500s. His margin of victory over second-place and fellow SHR teammate Aric Almirola was 1.594 seconds.
● There were 11 caution periods for a total of 56 laps.
● Only 14 of the 40 drivers in the AAA Texas 500finished on the lead lap.
● Ford took the top-four finishing positions and five in the top-10 in the AAA Texas 500.
Clint Bowyer, Driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang:
“Track position was everything, and we just lost out on that in the end.”
Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bluegreen Vacations 500k on Sunday, Nov. 10 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix. The penultimate race of the season starts at 2:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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