Clint Bowyer had “enough, barely” on Sunday to advance to the third round of the Cup playoffs after an “ugly” day at Kansas Speedway, his home track.
Bowyer, who finished 13th, said his team was “lucky” in the elimination race. He exits as the fifth seed in the Round of 8 with 4,015 points and joins his three Stewart-Haas Racing teammates in the round.
He advances after he had to race his way into the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Roval.
“I wanted to be better than that,” Bowyer said. “I don’t know what I am missing here. It isn’t my guys. They are giving me good cars. They are fast. I just can’t figure out how to get around this damn place. I definitely have to be better than that. I knew this was going to be the one and we were lucky enough to get through Talladega and get some points going into this with a little bit of insurance and I am damn glad we did.”
Bowyer started the race in 14th and managed a seventh-place finish in Stage 1. But he finished outside the top 10 in Stage 2.
On a Lap 168 restart, Bowyer suffered minor damage to his left-front fender after he made contact with Jimmie Johnson.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver could have had an uglier day.
On Lap 213, Bowyer pitted. During his stop, the tire taken off his right rear was rolled back to the pit wall near the front of his No. 14 Ford. It then rolled into the adjacent pit box.
It was not called as an uncontrolled tire penalty.
A NASCAR spokesperson said tires are allowed to cross into the adjacent pit boxes on the inside of the car as long as they do not impede another car or go passed the halfway point of the adjacent stall.
Had a car been pitting in front of Bowyer or if it had rolled past the pit stall number painted on the pit wall, it would have been a penalty.
Had he been penalized, Bowyer likely would have lost a lap. Bowyer finished as the last car on the lead lap. Kurt Busch finished 18th as the last car one lap down. The penalty would not have been enough to keep Bowyer from advancing.
Only has to controlled on right half of pit box. No penalty there. https://t.co/km2SCqR92U
— Steve Letarte (@SteveLetarte) October 21, 2018
Bowyer leaves Kansas with just one top 10 in his last 11 starts at the track. Now the series returns to Martinsville Speedway, where Bowyer ended a 190-race winless streak in the spring.
“For whatever reason Kansas isn’t my best track,” Bowyer said. “I am way more comfortable on the short tracks. If I can put together Martinsville and Phoenix like I am capable of and run Texas like we are capable of, I think we can be in Homestead (for the championship). Now it is getting down to the nitty-gritty. Now it is eight good teams. There are 16 good teams but there are eight damn good teams. All eight of these teams have found victory lane and things like that. Now you are starting to pick up the pace or go home.”
Bowyer didn’t get to spend much time ruminating on his day. He quickly made the short trip to Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Kansas City Chiefs compete on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Made it!!!! @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/dKDCi338NK
— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) October 21, 2018