Bowyer salvages top-10, but loses points in Chase

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- At times during Sunday's Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Clint Bowyer was more than 160 points behind Chase leader Jeff Gordon, who dominated the race while Bowyer's team struggled.

Bowyer's crew chief, Gil Martin, was smiling at the end of the day, after his team and driver salvaged a ninth place finish -- their 16th top-10 in 32 starts this season.

The result didn't pain Martin greatly, though he acknowledged it could have been a better outcome.

"We were just hoping that we could be within a hundred points of [Gordon and Jimmie Johnson] coming out of Charlotte and here, because we know they own these two places," Martin said. "So for us to come out of here, I guess, 115 points behind and going to the two mile-and-a-halves we're going to -- I know they're going to be good there, but at least I know that's a strong point for us."

Earlier this season Bowyer qualified 15th and finished sixth at Atlanta, next week's venue; then qualified eighth and finished 16th at Texas, which is after Atlanta on the schedule.

But Sunday at Martinsville, both of Bowyer's main competitors for the championship, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Johnson and points leader Gordon, finished in front of him.

Johnson won his third consecutive Martinsville victory to move within 53 points of Gordon, who led the most laps and finished third.

Bowyer, who came into the sixth event of the 10-race Chase 78 points behind Gordon, left Martinsville 115 points behind Gordon and 62 behind Johnson. The good news is Bowyer is 134 points clear of fourth-place Tony Stewart.

But to get there, Bowyer and his crew battled a variety of handling characteristics through a particularly grueling 500 laps on Martinsville's slightly-banked half-mile.

"I guess that's what you could call persevering," Martin said. "We didn't have a very good car at the start of the race -- for about the first half of the race. And then we got it pretty good."

Bowyer started 21st and quickly fell as far back as 28th in the first 125 laps. He used pit strategy to get to fourth by Lap 175; but in short order was all the way back to 26th. But he and Martin managed to coordinate their pit work well enough to get into the top 10 by halfway.

Even then Martin told the tale of a woe that hurt everyone from runner-up Ryan Newman and Gordon to just about every other team in the race at one time or another -- track position.

"It was so hard to get track position and to be in line with the right kind of tires that everyone else had," Martin said. "But that's what it's going to take for us to be with them."

Lap-by-Lap

Jimmie Johnson won his third consecutive race at Martinsville. Johnson crossed the start-finish under caution. There were 21 yellows, a track record.

• Lap-by-Lap, click here
• Race Video, click here

Bowyer fell back to 18th on Lap 300 but had managed to scramble back toward the front when, with some of the race-record 21 yellow flags reigning over the track, Martin made a decision to take four tires for a restart with 53 laps to go and Bowyer restarted 13th as the first car with fresh rubber.

"I think our last stop was the key to getting back into the top 10 at the finish," Martin said. "That last set of tires -- obviously you want that perfectly matched set -- but we saved what we thought was our best set for the last right there, and they were good.

"We tried something a little different on air pressure right there and that obviously worked. A couple of those cautions right there at the end probably cost us a sixth- or seventh-place spot right there because I think we had something all the way up to there.

"But it was a good day for us."

Three cautions after the change, Bowyer was able to take advantage of RCR teammate Kevin Harvick to move into the top 10, at about Lap 476. By the time the checkers flew, three cautions after that, Harvick was back in 10th.

"Tires was definitely what enabled us to catch and pass Kevin," Martin said. "I think when the cloud cover came over on the track their car tightened up and it was just what we needed.

"We banked on that happening a little sooner than it did happen, because normally this place always clouds up on the front straightaway and over here in Turn 2, so you can have the car a little freer.

"But we were a little bit too free right then. So when the cloud cover came up, it played right into our hand -- we were just a little bit too far back to capitalize."

But while Bowyer had stated some definite goals regarding the championship earlier in the weekend, the result didn't much change them.

"I'm really enjoying our situation where we're at -- it's fun [and] I can't wait to get to the next race and see the next challenge ahead," Bowyer said on Friday. "I'm really proud of the way we've been able to step up our program. It's neat to see how far we've come in just a few races.

"I like the pressure. You're seeing what you're made out of. It's so much fun to be in that situation, not only yourself but everybody around you. We're all forced in this situation now and we've got to focus and work hard."

"You owe it to your guys and you owe it to everybody to try to do everything you could possibly do in your power to try to win this thing for them and they're doing the same thing."