By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
When the rain fell on lap 320, forcing Sunday’s AAA 400 to halt under the red flag, Clint Bowyer was eying his first victory at Dover International Speedway. The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led the race at the time and was heading to Victory Lane if the rain continued on.
Unfortunately for Bowyer, the 1-mile concrete was soon dried and the race concluded the final 80 laps and Kevin Harvick was able to power by the No. 14 to score his fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of 2018.
Bowyer, who battled loose conditions in that final run to the end, was left with second.
“When you’re wagging your tail and holding onto that thing for all you’re worth, you’re in trouble,” Bowyer said. “I needed to have a run in the clean air, in traffic, you lose the nose, you’re tight, you don’t know what you have.”
The drastic effect of the dirty-to-clean air caught Bowyer off guard, while the same couldn’t be said for Harvick.
“As soon as we took off and I went into Turn 1, it was pretty loose,” he said. “I was trying to get the trackbar down, everything I could do. I knew I was in trouble.
“[Harvick] just had the luxury of working on his car in the clean air. It makes such a big difference having clean air.”
Leading 40 laps on the day, Bowyer’s runner-up run was his third top-five finish of 2018 and one step closer to competing with Harvick on a weekly basis.
“We finally got our car capable of running with that No. 4 car,” he said. “I just needed one more shot at adjusting my car. They were the class of our organization all last year. A year under our belts with this No. 14 bunch, you’re starting to see us reap the benefits.
“You hate to give them up like that. But if you’re going to lose to somebody, might as well be your teammate.”