DOVER, Del. — Clint Bowyer raced to his second Nationwide Series victory of the season Saturday, taking the lead with 83 laps to go on the concrete at Dover International Speedway.
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.
Busch dominated thefirst 100 laps despite communication issues with his crew. He could hear instruction over the radio, but no one could hear what Busch was saying.
CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS Sauter wins in Vegas
LAS VEGAS - Johnny Sauter raced to his first career NASCAR Trucks Series victory, taking the lead from Matt Crafton with 17 laps left and holding on to win the Las Vegas 350 on Saturday night.
Crafton, who took over the lead following a pit stop with 26 laps remaining, held on to finish second in the 146-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval.
Jason White was third, followed by pole-sitter Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters and points leader Ron Hornaday Jr.
The 51-year-old Hornaday, who has six victories this year, led 33 laps before Sauter passed him on the 89th lap.
Sports, Pages 29 on 09/27/2009