Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-70):
● Clint Bowyer started fourth and finished fourth to earn seven bonus points.
● Bowyer moved to third on the first lap and held the position until the lap 25 competition caution.
● The No. 14 Haas Automation Ford pitted for four tires and fuel and restarted 11th on lap 30.
● Bowyer and Chase Elliott made contact on the restart, but the crew told Bowyer the right rear fender damage wasn’t significant.
● Bowyer was loose for the remainder of the stage, but drove to fourth before the stage ended.
● During the stage break, the No. 14 pitted from fourth for adjustments to further tighten his car.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 71-185):
● Bowyer started third and finished third to earn eight bonus points.
● The No. 14 Haas Automation Ford kept third-place on the restart.
● Bowyer pitted for a routine green-flag stop from third on lap 135.
● The stage ran caution free with Bowyer holding his position.
● During the stage break, the No. 14 made a small right rear air pressure adjustment.
.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 186-311):
● Bowyer started fourth and finished sixth.
● The No. 14 Haas Automation Ford dropped to fifth with 100 to go but kept turning quick lap times.
● Bowyer drove by Brad Keselowski for fourth with 72 laps to go.
● Bowyer asked for no adjustments when he made a routine green-flag, fuel-stop with 58 laps to go.
● Bowyer said his car grew tight late in the stage and fell to seventh with 39 to go.
● The stage ran without a caution and Bowyer finished sixth.
Notes:
● Bowyer is 14th in the playoff standings with a 78-point cushion over the final transfer spot into the 16-driver playoff field. Two races remain in the regular season.
● Bowyer’s highest points scoring races in 2020 have come in the last two races. Last Sunday he earned 47 points on the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and he earned 46 points in today’s race at Dover. Bowyer finished sixth in both races.
● Bowyer earned his seventh top-10 of the season and his 17th top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Dover.
● This was Bowyer’s third straight top-10 at Dover and his fifth top-10 in the last six races at the Monster Mile.
● Denny Hamlin won the Dover 311 to score his 43rd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his sixth of the season and his first at Dover. His margin of victory over second-place Martin Truex Jr., was 1.179 seconds.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
● Only 12 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Dover with a 100-point advantage over second-place Hamlin.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Our No. 14 Haas Automation Ford was great right up until the final 40 laps or so, but we did what we needed to do today. We put some stage points up on the board and got a good finish. We are getting better each week and this is a great time of the year to do that. Today was a lot of fun. Let’s do this again tomorrow!”
Next Up:
The second event of the NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Dover is a 311-mile race on Sunday. It starts at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TSC PR
