To say Clint Bowyer was annoyed at the end of Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway is putting it mildly.
In the two-lap overtime shootout that decided the race, Bowyer had a strong run through the tri-oval coming to the white flag, but as Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford flashed across the start/finish line, Erik Jones steered his No. 20 Toyota up the track and blocked Bowyer’s progress.
Bowyer could have driven through the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s car, but he broke momentum, essentially giving Jones a break, rather than wrecking him. That kindness, however, cost Bowyer positions at the finish.
“We should have finished second,” said Bowyer, who had to settle for fifth. “I had a huge run on both those guys (Jones and race runner-up Alex Bowman), but that kid, I guess he was willing to wreck himself to hold the position …
“Yeah, that wasn’t very smart. If it had been another scenario where I would have had some room, I would have just turned him in front of the whole field, and he would be back there wishing he wouldn’t have done that. Oh, well.”
Jones wasn’t about to surrender his position after the final restart, even if it meant blocking Bowyer’s run.
As it was, with his third-place run, Jones matched his best finish of the season, and he was unapologetic about blocking Bowyer to start the final lap.
“I think it was just racing,” Jones said. “We’re racing hard, and I think this (competition) package really kind of leads into a lot of blocking and a lot of protecting your position.
“And we’re taking the white flag. I’m not going to give up a lane and give up two, three, four spots if he would have gotten to the inside. Besides that, the DeWalt Camry was good. We had a car that could have won. We just got in the wrong spot at the end of the race, and we weren’t able to capitalize on it.”
Jones’ third-place performance followed a sixth on Monday at Dover.
“We’ll keep moving forward,” he said. “It’s been two good weeks. This was the best car we’ve had in a long time—since Texas (where Jones finished fourth on March 31)—and it’s nice to be up in contention and have that shot.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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