Clint Bowyer raced to his second Nationwide Series victory of the season on Saturday, taking the lead with 83 laps to go on the concrete at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.
His celebration was ignored as all attention turned to a brief, but heated, confrontation on pit road between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. They made contact late in the race, sending Hamlin to the garage. Keselowski finished third and was greeted when he got out of his car by an angry Hamlin.
They exchanged words, and Hamlin shoved Keselowski. Keselowski's public relations rep shoved Hamlin. The crews for both drivers got between the drivers. Keselowski crew chief Tony Eury Jr. ended it after a brief chat with Hamlin.
"I wanted to talk to him," Hamlin said. "He obviously needs some sort of guidance on what he needs to do to make it."
Keselowski blamed Hamlin for the accident.
"He cuts me off like he always does," Keselowski said. "He's Denny Hamlin."
Mike Bliss was second. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Busch kept his overall lead in the points standings. He also became the second driver in the second-tier series to ever lead 2,000 laps in a season.
Bowyer was driving in only his ninth Nationwide race of the season.
"Dover is one of my best racetracks so it's probably fitting I was able to get in this car and race this race," he said.
Tire test: Jimmie Johnson took the pole at Dover and Juan Pablo Montoya joined him on the front row.
Some Chase drivers think they know why.
A tire test.
Johnson and Montoya were among a handful of drivers who participated in a Goodyear tire test in August on the concrete track.
"Having an hour and a half or two hours of practice to get ready to qualify, you're scrambling to get going," Greg Biffle said. "It's obvious that the guy that wasn't scrambling to get going was the 48. They were at the top of the sheet from the onset, but they were the ones that did the tire test. They're going to be set up for that tire a lot better than the rest of the teams are."
Biffle wondered why a Chase driver -- especially a three-time defending champion -- was picked for the test.
Johnson said the test helped his No. 48 team because they learned the tire helped the car turn more easily.
