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Bowyer wins Daytona Nationwide

Clint Bowyer claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the season in the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway

Bowyer started from pole and crossed the finish line first, but a lot happened in between during the 102 laps of racing. The current series champion led for nearly half the distance, taking turns at the front of the field with some of his Sprint Cup colleagues, who set the tone for most of the night.

With six laps remaining the caution came out due to a multi-car incident at turn one. Bowyer was leading the pack ahead of Edwards, who was on fresher tyres, while Kyle Busch followed them at the time, setting up an interesting final sprint following the final restart of the race with two laps remaining.

When the green flag waved Bowyer got pushed by Busch to the front, while Edwards tried to keep up on the outside with Brad Keselowski glued to his rear bumper. However, Bowyer's lane gained more momentum and as they started the final lap, the caution came out for another incident on the front stretch, which virtually sealed victory for him.

"I can't begin to tell you what this place means to me," Bowyer said after winning his first race at Daytona. "The wolves were coming after we decided to stay out on that caution and not take tyres. I got nervous when I saw Harvick and [Kenseth] and [Carl Edwards] coming on new tyres.

"But Kyle gave me a good push there right at the end. Luckily the caution came out and who knows what would've happened on that last lap but our car was pretty fast tonight."

Bowyer's win is only the first for Richard Childress Racing this year as the team has endured a tough season, especially in the Sprint Cup Series, where none of the squad's four drivers are currently ranked among the top 12 in the standings.

Busch was trying to set up a last lap move with team-mate Joey Logano, but his attempt was cut short by the final caution of the day. He led 14 laps during the race and admitted he did not have the car to beat, suggesting he was down on power to Bowyer's Chevrolet.

"We're proud of that second-place effort. That's the best we had," Busch said. "Clint's car was better than ours tonight. We've got some work to do before we come back here but a lot of that work is going to be under the hood.

"Mark [Cronquist engine builder] has got some homework to do when we come back here but the car is going to be different anyway. We've got Nationwide CoT's here next time."

Carl Edwards did not lead any laps while his team-mates did, but he was Roush Fenway's winning card in the end. The former Nationwide Series champion had taken on a new set of tyres during a late caution due to suspected cut tyre, and had the race run until the final lap under green, he might have been more of a threat to Bowyer.

"That was close," said Edwards. "I didn't know whether to take tyres or not. I mean, these Goodyear tyres that they brought here are perfect. They give up, they put a little strategy into the race and our car was really good there at the end.

"I was cheating a little bit because I had those tyres but when I was following Clint, I know he's a dirt racer and I know he can hang on for a long time but he was getting looser and looser.

"I just hated to see that restart that I had to go to the outside. Keselowski pushed me and didn't spin me out. That was awesome. In the end it was a great points' day."

Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five ahead of Keselowski, Vickers and Penske rookie Justin Allgaier.

Dale Earnhardt Jr took part in the race but he was involved in an incident on lap 58, which brought his night to an early end.

Kyle Busch continues to lead the championship with 172 points over Edwards, while Keselowski ranks third.

Pos  Driver                  Make        Laps
 1.  Clint Bowyer            Chevrolet   102
 2.  Kyle Busch              Toyota      102
 3.  Carl Edwards            Ford        102
 4.  Joey Logano             Toyota      102
 5.  Kasey Kahne             Toyota      102
 6.  Brad Keselowski         Chevrolet   102
 7.  Brian Vickers           Toyota      102
 8.  Justin Allgaier         Dodge       102
 9.  David Ragan             Ford        102
10.  Kevin Harvick           Chevrolet   102
11.  Michael Waltrip         Toyota      102
12.  Steve Wallace           Chevrolet   102
13.  Michael McDowell        Toyota      102
14.  Matt Kenseth            Ford        102
15.  Matt Carter             Ford        102
16.  Kenny Wallace           Chevrolet   102
17.  Brendan Gaughan         Chevrolet   102
18.  Scott Lagasse Jr        Toyota      102
19.  Jason Leffler           Toyota      102
20.  Bobby Gerhart           Chevrolet   102
21.  Scott Wimmer            Chevrolet   102
22.  Jason Keller            Ford        102
23.  Tony Raines             Chevrolet   102
24.  Joe Nemechek            Chevrolet   102
25.  John Borneman III       Ford        101
26.  Robert Richardson Jr    Chevrolet   101
27.  David Gilliland         Dodge       101
28.  Eric McClure            Ford        101
29.  Mike Bliss              Chevrolet   100
30.  Danny O'Quinn Jr        Chevrolet    99
31.  Mike Harmon             Chevrolet    97
32.  Morgan Shepherd         Chevrolet    95
33.  Kertus Davis            Chevrolet    94
34.  Jeff Green              Chevrolet    94
35.  Michael Annett          Toyota       84
36.  John Wes Townley        Ford         81
37.  Chase Austin            Chevrolet    76
38.  Kerry Earnhardt         Chevrolet    76
39.  Mark Green              Chevrolet    62
40.  Dale Earnhardt Jr       Chevrolet    58
41.  Patrick Sheltra         Dodge        57
42.  Donnie Neuenberger      Chevrolet     9
43.  Johnny Chapman          Chevrolet     2

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