Happy afterthought

Clint Bowyer figures he’s in an ideal position with three races left in NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

All the attention heading into today’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, is focused on series leader Jeff Gordon and runner-up Jimmie Johnson, just nine points off the pace. Nearly everyone has conceded the title to four-time champion Gordon or reigning champion Johnson. That’s fine with the third-place Bowyer.

“Jimmie and Jeff, they deserve it,” said Bowyer, almost an afterthought despite being within striking distance of the lead, 111 points behind Gordon after the first seven races of the Chase.

“You just go out and try and beat them,” Bowyer said. “If you can, you can and if you can’t, you can’t. You can’t wreck your race car trying to do something that is not there.”

That attitude is what has allowed Bowyer, a second-year Cup regular, to turn into this season’s biggest surprise.

He made it into the 12-man Chase, along with fellow Richard Childress Racing drivers Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton and has outshone his better-known teammates, who are seventh and eighth in the points.

Busch Series

Kevin Harvick won another race and runaway points leader Carl Edwards finally wrapped up his first NASCAR Busch Series championship at Texas Motor Speedway.

Edwards, who built a lead of more than 800 points in the first half of the season, stumbled through the second half of the year before putting away the title with an 11th-place run in the O’Reilly Challenge. He leads runner-up David Reutimann by an insurmountable 552 points with two races to go.

“It’s really amazing to be a Busch Series champion,” said Edwards, who has won four times season. “I can’t tell you how exciting that is and what it means to me.”

“With another Nextel Cup regular about to wrap up a Busch Series championship, NASCAR is looking at a number of possible changes for its top development series.

NASCAR officials said they’re considering several adjustments that could give the series, which gets Nationwide as its new sponsor next season, more of its own identity. The possible changes are designed to combat criticism that the second-tier series has become little more than a warmup for Cup drivers.