Bowyer emerges a winner

Clint Bowyer found a way to maneuver his way around the spinning and smoking cars that littered Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

Bowyer won a green-white-checkered flag finale Saturday for his first NASCAR Busch Series victory of the year after four runner-up finishes.

Almost from the start, the Dover 200 was a mess, with no more than a handful of laps being completed before the caution came out after another accident. There were a track-record 13 cautions for 46 laps.

Matt Kenseth finished second and series leader Kevin Harvick was third. Harvick, who has completely dominated the series, has the season title nearly wrapped up.

Harvick has a whopping 659-point lead over Carl Edwards with six races remaining.

With cars seemingly spending as much time in the garage as they did on the track, Bowyer finally caught Matt Kenseth just more than 20 laps away from the scheduled finish and recorded his first Busch win since last October at Memphis.

Bowyer started 16th and was the 15th different winner in the series this season.

Rounding out the top 10 were Reed Sorenson, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, J.J. Yeley and Michael Waltrip. Sorenson lost control on the last lap and slid across the finish line.

Nextel Cup

Jeff Gordon will lead the field to the green flag for today’s Dover 400, but his performances in two practices indicate he might not stay there long.

Gordon struggled to 38th on the speed chart in the first session with a speed of 147.886 mph, more than 8 mph slower than his qualifying speed of 156.162.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led Happy Hour practice with a speed of 151.273. Earnhardt starts 13th today.

Craftsman Trucks

Mike Skinner raced to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the year, passing Ted Musgrave with 20 laps to go and holding on to take the Smith’s Las Vegas 350.

Skinner, who started from the pole for the sixth time this year, led 114 laps in the 146-lap, 219-mile race on the reconfigured Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory was his first since Sept. 8, 2005, in Richmond.

Musgrave finished second, about three truck-lengths behind Skinner’s Toyota. Mike Bliss was third, followed by Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday.

Series leader Todd Bodine, the Las Vegas winner last year, finished 12th. He has a 91-point lead over Benson with six races left.

Champ Car

Dan Clarke and his team took a strategic risk Friday.

It paid off with a pole position.

With the track drying out and time in the qualifying session running out during a preliminary qualifying session on Friday, Clarke changed from grooved rain tires to slick dry-weather tires and set a fast lap of 126.585 mph.

It rained again during qualifying on Saturday, and Clarke’s previous time held up to give him the pole for today’s Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

“We actually kind of outsmarted the rest of the paddock,” Clarke said.

Using slick tires in damp conditions is risky, but it ultimately paid off for Clarke, who will start on the pole.

Sebastien Bourdais will start second and Charles Zwolsman third.