DOVER, Del. -- A defiant Clint Bowyer met with the media Friday at Dover International Speedway, insisting that he and his No. 33 Chevrolet team from Richard Childress Racing "did nothing wrong" to earn the whopping penalty it received from NASCAR two days earlier.

Bowyer won the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday, capturing the opening event of the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup. The dramatic victory temporarily vaulted him from 12th to second in the point standings.

"You always want to win races, and you're very proud to win races, and I'm still proud of that win," Bowyer said. "I don't believe that we did anything wrong. I guess I'll go on record as saying that ... and I want my fans to know that.

"There is a lot of integrity that goes into this sport. I'm damn proud to be part of this sport. I love being a part of this sport -- and I wouldn't cheat go win a race in this sport. We have a lot more integrity [than that] with my race team and at RCR."

Bowyer's ascension in the driver point standings was temporary because the left side of the rear of his car was deemed too high by a small margin after being taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center for further inspection following the race. That led to a 150-point penalty being issued to Bowyer by NASCAR; along with a 150-point deduction for Childress in the owners' standings; a $150,000 fine and six-week suspension for Bowyer's crew chief, Shane Wilson; and a six-week suspension for the No. 33 car chief Chad Haney.

The 150-point hit dropped Bowyer from second back to 12th in the championship standings. So instead of trailing leader Denny Hamlin by 35 points with nine races remaining in the Chase, Bowyer now trails by a seemingly insurmountable 185.

The penalties and Wilson's fine have been appealed, allowing Wilson to work this Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover, but Bowyer and Childress did not sound like he's holding out much hope for having them overturned.

"All I am going to ask for is a fair appeal," Childress said. "That is all I want: a fair appeal. And I have only in the history of RCR don't think we have been but to maybe three appeals. We didn't win any of them."

Bowyer admitted that he and his team had been warned of their car being "too close to tolerances" following the previous week's race at Richmond, and that at the same time they were told their car would be taken back to the R&D Center after New Hampshire "whether it finished first or 43rd."

Having established that, Bowyer asked the assembled media why in the heck would his team have attempted to alter the car again?

"After being told they were taking the car, we made double-sure when we were going to New Hampshire that car was right," Bowyer said. "Who in their right mind -- knowing they were going to take that car -- wouldn't have made triple-sure that it was right before going to the race track?"

Bowyer, who ran out of gas while doing a celebratory post-race burnout at New Hampshire, added that he was careful to keep his car in one piece after securing last Sunday's win.

"I could have hit the wall doing a burnout; I could have done a lot of things a lot of other drivers and a lot of other teams have done in their post-race celebration this year," Bowyer said. "I didn't. I didn't want to push that in NASCAR's face. We appreciated them warning us on the fact [after Richmond]. They told us about that situation on Wednesday [before New Hampshire] and we tried to fix it. We had about two hours to jump on that car and make sure that thing was right." (Continued)