Bowyer bails buts wins race; Blaney 3rd

Associated Press

talladega, ala.

Teamwork meant very little in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway.

Unless, of course, you were driving a Ford.

Clint Bowyer bailed on teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap of Sunday’s race, 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,” shrugged Bowyer. “You owe it to your team, to your sponsors to go out and win the race. Unfortunately, it came down to that situation.”

Burton and the RCR bunch understood that’s how the game is played.

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 in reference to Talladega’s two-car drafting style and the reliance on partners.

“It’s too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around us.”

Dave Blaney did more than just run up front for a while at Talladega’s tri-oval this time. He drove his No. 36 Chevrolet to a third-place finish with Brad Keselowski both finishing and spending a chunk of the afternoon right behind him.

Blaney, who signed with Tommy Baldwin Racing in January, hung with the bigger, better funded teams.

“It’s huge for our race team,” said Blaney, a Hartford native. “It’s a tiny little team. It’s a big, big accomplishment.

“This is a track you can do this. With Brad Keselowski’s help we could hang in all day and took advantage of getting a big push at the right time. That’s what it comes down to here, having a car that will roll the last couple of laps to do that. It all just worked out.”

Blaney led 21 laps at Talladega’s spring race but finished 27th.

“I was happy how we ran that day,” he said. “It just didn’t work out. We didn’t get the finish but we performed well and hung in there all day.

“Yeah, you feel great when you get the finish out of it. It just legitimizes Tommy Baldwin’s team more and more and helps us grow more and more, and we’ll see where we can go.”