NASCAR Winner Spotlight: Clint Bowyer wins 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400

For the second time this NASCAR Cup Series season, Clint Bowyer celebrated a victory. He took the lead at Michigan after a two-tire pit stop. Rain fell, and he won.

Mother Nature helped Clint Bowyer. After a two-tire pit stop, he grabbed the lead in the 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400 and held onto it. Then the heavens opened up and Bowyer celebrated his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win this season.

For Stewart-Haas Racing, the Michigan International Speedway NASCAR race weekend was a success. In the Xfinity Series race, Cole Custer drove his #00 Ford up to second place at one point. He later lost the draft and drifted back to 20th, but he recovered to finish stage two in 10th place. When the race ended prematurely due to rain, he finished in third. He is now second in points, although he lacks a playoff point thus far this season.

The next Xfinity Series race is at Iowa Speedway this Sunday, June 17. There, Custer will look to nab his first playoff point, especially because there are no Cup Series drivers on the entry list.

On the NASCAR Cup Series side, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch won the FireKeepers Casino 400 pole in his #41 Ford. In the first stage, all Stewart-Haas Racing’s four drivers all finished inside the top 10. Bowyer, the eventual race winner, finished the stage in third place.

Of note, that first stage featured a comeback by Aric Almirola. For the first 20 laps of the race, he maintained a top five spot. On lap 29, he slid his #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford through his pit box. As a result, he received a penalty, which sent him to the tail end of the field. After restarting in 17th place, he finished stage one in 10th.

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Kevin Harvick won stage two, with Bowyer finishing in second place. Busch also earned stage points, which was yet another highlight for Stewart-Haas Racing. Because stage two marks the necessary distance needed to make a NASCAR race official, teams checked their radars to ascertain when the rain would fall. When the lead lap cars came down pit road, Bowyer only took two tires. As a result, he gained the lead. For the next eight laps, he held off an attack by Harvick. On lap 130, an incident between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kasey Kahne caused a caution flag to come out. Three laps later, the heavens opened up. NASCAR quickly called the end of the race, and Bowyer did celebratory burnouts.

The win was Bowyer’s second NASCAR Cup Series victory this season. Weather factored into his first win as well. A snowstorm postponed the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. A day later, Bowyer won the race.

At the end of the 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400, both Harvick and Bowyer are locked into the playoffs. Bowyer clinched his playoff berth with his Martinsville win and Harvick clinched his playoff berth with his victory at Atlanta, the first of five victories that he has earned so far this season. Fortunately for Stewart-Haas Racing, their other two drivers are in a comfortable spot. Both Busch and Almirola are above the playoff cut line thanks to their respective point standings.

Next: NASCAR Playoffs: Pros and Cons

The NASCAR Cup Series is off this Father’s Day weekend. Clint Bowyer and the other Cup Series drivers next compete on Sunday, June 24 at Sonoma Raceway. There, they will race in the Toyota/SaveMart 350. Viewers can catch all the racing action live beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

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