Saturday, October 13, 2012

Bowyer Gambles on Fuel and Wins at Charlotte

Clint Bowyer wins third race of 2012 season (Getty)
Sporting News

Clint Bowyer stretched his fuel mileage to win the Bank of America 500 Saturday night at Charlotte while Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin gained ground on points leader Brad Keselowski.

Hamlin finished second followed by Johnson, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch. 

Keselowski, who held a 14-point lead on Johnson entering the fifth Chase race, ran out of fuel while leading with 58 laps remaining and wound up finishing 11th.

The win was the third this year for Bowyer in his first season with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Keselowski was leading when he and his crew made a major gaffe on Lap 275 as Keselowski ran out of fuel before he could get to pit road for his green-flag stop. As a result, he had a slow, 22-second stop, which dropped him to 14th in the running order.

Johnson also ran out of fuel as he hit pit road and fell to 10th when the cycle of green-flag stops were complete.

As the race developed into a fuel-mileage gamble, Keselowski pitted early with 23 laps remaining to try to make up some ground and salvage a decent finish.

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