Bowyer’s win throws a wrench into Chase

LOUDON, N.H. -- Clint Bowyer was seeded last in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship field. With zero race wins and hardly any laps led, he went off as a 30-1 longshot to win the series title.

One race into the Chase, Bowyer has turned into a legitimate contender.

He raced to the first victory of his Cup career Sunday by embarrassing the field at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he started from the pole and led 222 of 300 laps while beating Jeff Gordon to the finish line by more than six seconds.

“Once you get into the Chase, you’ve got to go for broke,” Bowyer said.

Bowyer started the Chase seeded 12th, the only driver in the Chase field without a victory. He’d never finished higher than third before, and had led only 196 laps in his Cup career -- 84 this season.

But NASCAR’s scoring system rewards consistency, and Bowyer earned his spot in the title hunt with 12 top-10 finishes. Now he’s got that coveted win, and it pushed him up eight spots in the standings to fourth.

“This proves we earned a spot and we’re here for a reason and just so happy to be a part of the Chase,” Bowyer said. “It’s such a neat deal and, hey, this is the Nextel Cup, baby.”

Gordon, the four-time series champion, finished second and was followed by two-time series champion Tony Stewart. Kyle Busch was fourth, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth as Chase drivers took the top seven spots. Casey Mears was eighth, then came Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley.

The Chase opener wasn’t so kind to Carl Edwards (12th), Denny Hamlin (15th), Kevin Harvick (17th), Jeff Burton (18th) and Kurt Busch (25th). Although they were all running at the end, it’s going to take top-10 finishes to decide this championship, and the competition is off to a huge head start.

Johnson and Gordon are tied for the points lead, and Stewart is 10 points back.

Bowyer moved into fourth place, 15 points out. Kyle Busch jumped four spots to fifth and is 35 points behind. Truex is sixth, 40 points back, and Kenseth is seventh.

“We need to run better than that, obviously, to contend for a championship,” said Kenseth, 54 points behind.

Edwards dropped four spots to eighth, and Hamlin fell three spots to ninth. Harvick is 10th, Burton is 11th and Kurt Busch plummeted seven spots to 12th and is 102 points behind the leaders.

“It’s kind of a bummer, but we worked hard to get in this Chase and we’ll still work hard,” said Kurt Busch, who had a motor problem.

The day belonged to Bowyer, who joined Truex as the two newcomers to the championship field. But because he had never been to Victory Lane, few considered him a legitimate title contender.

By blowing away the field, he changed that.

“If you are going to win the first one of the year, that’s the time to do it,” Gordon said. “I think everybody is happy for Clint.”