Clint Bowyer on Top After Wild Talladega Finish

Filed under: Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Talladega Superspeedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

In one of the most unusual finishes in NASCAR history, Clint Bowyer did his winner's burnout Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway even before he knew he won the race.

NASCAR had to go to the electronic timing and scoring computers as well as video tapes to determine that Bowyer had won the race by virtue of being in front of Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick when a crash occurred on the last lap, freezing the field in place at the moment of the yellow flag.

"I didn't even know the caution was coming out," Bowyer told ESPN after the race. "As soon as (a team member) mentions caution, I looked over and thought, 'Am in in the lead?' I thought I was."

It took officlals at least three minutes to make the call, and Bowyer spent some of the time doing a burnout before getting the good news.

Wasn't he jumping the gun? "No way," Bowyer said. "I was going to claim the win right off the bat. Let 'em take it from me. I'm not going to give it to 'em."

Harvick was second, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann and Joey Logano.

It was a miracle finish for Harvick, who had smashed the front end of his car into the side of Marcos Ambrose's spinning car earlier the race. But Harvick managed to stay on the lead lap while his crew used tape, among other things, to try to effect repairs to the front end. Somehow the repairs did the trick, and Harvick was at the front at the end.

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/10/31/clint-bowyer-on-top-after-wild-talladega-finish/

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