Clint Bowyer bailed on teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap of Sunday’s race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, pulling around him when the checkered flag was in sight to pick up his first win of the season and the 100th in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing.
“You hate that it comes down to that; it is what it is,” Bowyer said. “You owe it to your team, to your sponsors to go out and win the race. Unfortunately, it came down to that situation.”
The grumbling was far behind the leaders, where Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ditched Jeff Gordon because Bayne was part of a pact made by Ford drivers to only push fellow Ford drivers in an effort to help Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in the championship race.
Gordon was seventh on the final restart and thought Bayne was committed to pushing him over the last two laps. Instead, Bayne backed off, and Gordon, with no help, faded to 27th.
An animated Bayne went immediately to Gordon’s car after the race, then posted his thoughts on Twitter.
“I’m not happy about what this has become,” he posted on Twitter.
“It’s too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around us. I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell (Gordon) I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing.”
Gordon said he was deceived.
“The Fords made it very clear about what they were doing in working with one another,” Gordon said. “So I didn’t expect him to commit to me on the radio.
“I expected him to say, ‘Man, I’m sorry, I can’t.’ And when he said, ‘Yeah, I’m pushing you, we’re good,’ I believed him. I think they had a different plan.”
The race caused shake-up in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were both in accidents, and five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson finished 26th.
Edwards, who came into the race up five points over Harvick, finished 11th and saw his lead increase to 14 points over Roush teammate Matt Kenseth.
ELSEWHERE
An estimated crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 attended an 87-minute memorial service in Indianapolis for Dan Wheldon, the IndyCar driver who was killed in a crash Oct. 16 in Las Vegas.Some of the community’s most prominent organizations – the Colts, Pacers, Indianapolis 500 Festival and Indiana General Assembly Motorsports Caucus – sent floral arrangements. ... Italian MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli was killed in a crash at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. Simoncelli, 24, lost control of his bike on a turn and it veered straight into the path of riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.
STANDINGS
Unofficial standings for NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup:
DriverPoints
Carl Edwards2,237
Matt Kenseth2,223
Brad Keselowski2,219
Tony Stewart2,218
Kevin Harvick2,211
Kyle Busch2,197
Jimmie Johnson2,187
Kurt Busch2,185
Dale Earnhardt Jr.2,163
Jeff Gordon2,155
Denny Hamlin2,153
Ryan Newman2,149
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