Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-40):
● Clint Bowyer started 11th and finished fourth to earn seven stage points.
● Bowyer battled his way into the top-five by lap six.
● Ran as high as second and ran in and around the top-five for the majority of the stage.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 41-80):
● Started eighth, finished 29th.
● Bowyer began the stage battling among the top-five.
● Bowyer fell out of the pack during the middle of Stage 2 and was pushed toward the back of the field.
● During a lap-71 caution, Bowyer pitted for four tires, fuel and track bar adjustments, then pitted again on lap 74 to top off on fuel.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 81-163):
● Started 10th, finished second.
● After a multicar accident on lap 106, Bowyer opted not to pit and restarted his No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion in first place.
● Bowyer ran in and around the top-five until accident on lap 154. He restarted in the seventh position.
● A caution on lap 159 pushed the race into overtime. Bowyer restarted in the fifth position and clawed his way to second.
Notes:
● This was Bowyer’s fourth top-five and 12th top-10 in 24 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
● Bowyer earned his third top-two, fourth top-five and seventh top-10 of 2017 with his second-place finish at Daytona.
● This was Bowyer’s second consecutive second-place finish. He finished second last week at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
● There were 14 caution periods for a total of 51 laps.
● Twenty-one of the 40 drivers in the Coke Zero 400 presented by Coca-Cola finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson leads the championship standings with 667 points and has an 18-point margin over his nearest pursuer, Martin Truex Jr.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Wow, what a night. A fun race. Our Mobil 1 Ford was strong. I got shuffled out on that second stage, and that bummed me out. I wanted those stage points. It wasn’t that big of a deal because I knew that we had a hot rod to get back up front. Man, it’s just every man for himself. You’re beating and banging both sides of the car. It was a good night. These bridesmaid finishes suck. I want to win. We’re in this business to win. That’s what Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) pay me to do. I’m proud of everyone on the Mobil 1 Ford team.”
TSC PR
