Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-105):
● Clint Bowyer started fifth and finished third, earning eight bonus points.
● Bowyer reported his car was loose in the early going, dropping to eighth.
● The No. 14 Busch Light For The Farmers Mustang climbed to fifth during the lap 25 competition caution pit stop.
● Bowyer moved to third after the Lap 31 restart and held his position through a lap 67 pit stop.
● After a caution, Bowyer restarted third for a six-lap shootout to close out Stage 1.
● Bowyer climbed as high as second in the final laps before finishing the stage in third.
● Bowyer started Stage 2 in first after a quick stop by the pit crew during the stage break.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 106-210):
● Bowyer started first and finished ninth, earning two bonus points.
● The No. 14 Busch Light For The Farmers Mustang held the lead until lap 146 when Bowyer pitted for a tire coming apart.
● Bowyer reclaimed the lead on lap 162 when the rest of the field pitted under green.
● Bowyer held the lead until lap 185 when Martin Truex Jr. and three others drove by on fresher tires.
● A late caution allowed the field to pit and Bowyer restarted the race in seventh with four laps remaining.
● Bowyer survived some wild racing in the final laps to finish the stage in ninth.
Final Stage Recap (211- 325 Laps):
● Bowyer started eighth and finished 20th.
● The No. 14 Busch Light For The Farmers Mustang jumped to sixth at the start of the stage.
● Bowyer raced in eighth before pitting under green with 61 laps remaining.
● With 25 to go and running seventh, Bowyer told his crew he doubted his tires would hold out to the end.
● He was correct and forced to pit for new tires with 14 laps remaining.
● Bowyer didn’t have enough to time race back to the front of the field and finished 20th, a lap down to the leader.
Notes:
● Bowyer led three times for 58 laps to increase his laps-led total at Atlanta to 173.
● Harvick’s margin of victory over second-place Kyle Busch was 3.527 seconds.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 24 laps.
● Only 10 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Harvick remains the championship leader after Atlanta with a 48-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Busch Light For the Farmers Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That stunk. We were fast today, but kept burning up tires. Just disappointed. We’ll go back at it Wednesday in Martinsville.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 on Wednesday, June 10 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race starts at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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