After a violation of rules at Chicagoland, Clint Bowyer has probably seen his 2015 championship run come to an end.
It looks another driver’s championship aspirations have taken a major hit after the race at Chicagoland. First it was Kevin Harvick getting involved in a wreck that put a dent in his chances. Now it’s Clint Bowyer that has fallen to the bottom of “The Chase” standings after being penalized for a violation of rules at Chicagoland.
After a tier-four level penalty (tier-six being the highest), Clint Bowyer and his Michael Waltrip Racing team have received major penalties for failing an opening-day inspection. As a result of the failed inspection, Bowyer has been stripped of 25 Championship Driver points. His crew chief has been suspended the next three weeks and fined $75,000.
For Bowyer, that is a death blow to his championship chances this season. It automatically drops him to the bottom of the standings for “The Chase” and as a result, he has to either pick up a win in the next two races or he is going home. While Kevin Harvick is still a threat to pull out a win, Bowyer has yet to win this season and show that he can get it done in 2015.
The new format in “The Chase” leaves absolutely no margin for error and self-inflicted error like the one of Bowyer and his team can’t happen at this stage of the season or any time at all. Bowyer was already in the bottom four of the standings because he got into “The Chase” based on points and now he’s all but set his season in stone.
Two weeks from now at Dover, when the first round of cuts happen, the list is looking like it will include Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. With one champion and one good veteran driver off the board plus two more, their will be plenty of opportunities for another driver to advance and make noise in “The Chase” this season.
Bowyer wasn’t the only one penalized. Danica Patrick‘s team was nailed for a smaller infraction as was the Xfinity Series team of Kyle Busch.
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