Bowyer finally gets his first win

Clint Bowyer surprised everyone on Friday by getting the pole, then he backed it up today getting his first ever Cup Series win.

It was obvious from the start that Clint Bowyer had the car to beat and while he didn't lead all the laps, he led the most laps and jumped from 12th in the standings to 4th and only 15 points behind the leader.

All but three of the Chase drivers did well, with Gordon, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Truex, Johnson and Kenseth rounding out the top seven.  Edwards finished 12th, Hamlin 15th, Harvick 17th, Burton 18th and Kurt Busch 25th.

Harvick, Burton and Kurt Busch had troubles that they just couldn't improve on.  Harvick had a tight car, which was something they could deal with, but flat tires are not and that's what got them back there and they just couldn't bounce back from that.  Burton, it seems like it was just the car, it wasn't that good in practice and apparently they couldn't improve it enough to get it better during the race either.  Kurt Busch had engine troubles, they thought they were possibly down a cylinder after running in the top five, he was never really able to recover.  While all three struggled and finished one lap down, it took them until late in the race to actually go a lap down.

As it stands now,

• Johnson and Gordon are tied for the lead
• Stewart - 10 points back
• Bowyer - 15 points back
• Kyle Busch - 35 points back
• Truex - 40 points back
• Kenseth - 54 points back
• Edwards - 63 points back
• Hamlin - 82 points back
• Harvick - 88 points back
• Burton - 91 points back
• Kurt Busch - 102 points back

It's not over yet for these guys who didn't do well in this race, there is still 9 more races to go and they can step it up and get themselves to the front, so I wouldn't be counting anyone out yet.

On to Dover next week and see who can tame the monster.

Your thoughts?