JOLIET, Ill. – Clint Bowyer fought back from being two laps down to notch a top-five finish in the Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Bowyer qualified well and appeared to have one of the fastest cars in the early going after leading 21 laps. But he got caught for speeding on pit road on his first stop. His problems were compounded when he was penalized again for not slowing down enough serving the infraction. That resulted in a second penalty and Bowyer found himself two laps down to the leaders.
But he set his sights on getting to the front and was able to make up the deficit to get on the lead lap allowing Bowyer to once again make his way to the front of the field.
“The guys work very hard on making sure that they are pushing the envelope, which you have to do in this world and against this competition,” Bowyer explained of the double penalties. “You have to push everything. Certainly pit road is a big part of that. You are splitting hairs out there on the race track down to the tenths of a second and you can gain seconds on pit road. Obviously our pit road speed was just a little too fast.
“We practiced it yesterday and the guys even made some adjustments but that tight section down there was just too fast. The first time you second guess yourself. You come down the second time and you are cautious and speed again so now you know you’ve got a problem. Then it was just confusion on my part. I wasn’t listening and made a mistake and cost us a third time down.”
Bowyer realized the opportunity to potential win the race or take home some stage points was lost but remains confident in his race team.”
“You hate to give away those stage points,” he said. “I think we could have won both those stages and maybe been in contention for a win.
“I am proud of everybody. We have a lot of good mojo on this 14 car, we just have to put it all together to get another win.”
While Bowyer is proud of his team and its effort, he was quick to point out another component he believes was a factor in his eventual finish.
“Well, add a fast car and a bit of a pissed off attitude and it is amazing what you can do,” Bowyer said.
