Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-105):
● Clint Bowyer started 17th and finished 23rd.
● The No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford moved from 17th to 13th before the lap-20 competition caution.
● As the stage wore on, Bowyer reported his car wouldn’t turn or roll through the corners.
● The crew spent much of the race working to fix the condition.
● During the stage break, Bowyer stayed on the track to gain track position.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 106-210):
● Bowyer started seventh and finished 24th.
● The No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford moved to sixth by a lap-116 caution.
● Bowyer and another car made contact after the restart and Bowyer faded to 20th.
● Bowyer fell off the lead lap at the lap-190 mark.
● During the stage break, Bowyer pitted for more adjustments to help his car turn.
.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 211-334):
● Bowyer started 25th and finished 11th.
● A 10-car crash at the start of the final stage stopped the race for 11 minutes.
● Bowyer suffered damage in the accident, but earned the free pass to return to the lead lap.
● The front-end damage on the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford caused his engine temperatures to soar.
● The No. 14 crew brought Bowyer to the pits several times to repair the front end and cool the engine.
● Bowyer persevered and even caught a convenient caution with 24 to go allowing him to pit and restart the race in 11th.
● Bowyer raced in the top 15 through a series of cautions in the final laps.
● The race ended with a two-lap shootout that saw Bowyer start in 12th and finish 11th.
Notes:
● This was Bowyer’s third straight top-11 at Texas. He finished 11th last November and second in March 2019.
● Since joining SHR in 2017, Bowyer has only finished outside the top-11 once at Texas.
● Austin Dillon won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 to score his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Texas. His margin of victory over second-place Tyler Reddick was .149 of a second.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 45 laps.
● Only 18 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Texas with a 91-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That was a hot, tough day for sure. We worked hard all race trying to get our Rush Truck Centers Ford to turn better and the guys did a great job fixing our damage from the wreck. I didn’t know if we were going to finish because our engine temperature was so hot. They got it cooled down and we made it to the end with a good finish.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Super Start Batteries 400 on Thursday, July 23 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TSC PR
