Catchfence

Race/Date: Dickies 500 – November 8, 2009
Location: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas
Start Position: 10th
Finish Position: Seventh
Points Position: 15th (Maintained position)

FORT WORTH, Texas – Clint Bowyer’s strong performance in Sunday’s Dickies 500 resulted in a seventh-place effort and the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper team’s 15th top-10 finish of the 2009 season.

Bowyer maintains the 15th position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings with just two races remaining in the 2009 season.

Bowyer recorded the fastest time in Friday’s opening practice session and, later that afternoon, ran a lap of 28.428 seconds at an average speed of 189.954 mph to place him 10th on the starting grid for Sunday’s race. Bowyer continued to show the strength of his Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet in Saturday’s two practice sessions, recording the 12th- and 17th-fastest times, respectively.

The Emporia, Kan., native kept his Impala SS running inside the top 10 from the onset of the race, and ran as high as sixth at lap 53 before hitting pit road for a scheduled green-flag pit stop. Happy with the handling of the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper machine, Bowyer ordered no changes, just routine service of four tires and fuel.

As the sun began to set over the 1.5-mile speedway, Bowyer’s Chevrolet began to push in the center of the turns. Crew chief Shane Wilson called for adjustments that kept the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet in tune with the changing track conditions, and flawless work by the Helping Hands pit crew helped Bowyer keep his track position over the course of the 334-lap event.

As the race neared the finish, Wilson made a gutsy call to bring Bowyer to pit road for their fina

l scheduled stop of the day at lap 301. Knowing the majority of the race leaders would be short on fuel, Wilson hoped the race would continue under green-flag conditions and, by pitting early, it would sequence Bowyer ahead of his fellow competitors near the conclusion of the race. The strategy paid off, as the No. 33 rose lap-by-lap on the scoring pylon, taking the checkered flag seventh.

Kurt Busch was able to stretch his fuel mileage to pick up his second win of the 2009 season. Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin and Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five finishers.

Bowyer’s other RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Casey Mears finished ninth and 21st, respectively.

As the season winds down, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues west as the division returns to Avondale, Ariz., for the penultimate stop on the 2009 schedule.

ABC’s live television coverage of the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Phoenix International Raceway will begin Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 35th points-paying race on the 36-race tour is scheduled to take the green flag on Friday, Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m. EST and will be telecast live on ESPN2. MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry live qualifying updates.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTE

“Our Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy was tight all day. Shane (Wilson, crew chief) made a call to short pit for fuel in order to make it to the end. The cards fell in our favor and were able to grab a seventh-place finish. Wish we could have had a better finish but, all-in-all, it’s a good result and another top 10 to add to our 2009 resume.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release