Clint Bowyer walked away from the full-time NASCAR race schedule in 2020 and started calling races instead of running them from the FOX Sports broadcast booth. However, last Saturday at Dover, he was back in a truck for the first time in years, qualified 22nd, fought through the mid-pack, spun out his own teammate, and eventually parked with a tire failure on lap 181 of 200. Right after, he changed into a suit and was back in the broadcast booth 90 minutes later, giving a scathing review of his experience.

“It took me, I don’t know, probably my second lap before I finally said, ‘Alright, go for it,'” he said. “They don’t have any horsepower. It’s hard to find how to pass. That’s the biggest thing, and I knew by the fifth lap on the track that that was gonna be the challenge.”

He explained what that actually means at a track like Dover. “You’re running around there all the way open and there’s just no throttle response with them.”

Wide open throttle, no real acceleration to speak of, and every driver around you in the same situation. Passing becomes nearly impossible. This isn’t a complaint about the race being boring for him personally. It’s an observation about the Truck Series, that’s coming from someone who drove NASCAR full-time and now analyzes it on television.

The race proved his point. Kyle Busch, one of the most versatile drivers, qualified on pole and led 147 of 200 laps. That kind of performance at a track like Dover doesn’t happen when passing is easy. It happens when clean air is worth more than anything else on the track, and the guy who gets it first keeps it.

As for Bowyer’s own NASCAR race, his son Cash told him before the start not to suck, which only added pressure to someone who admitted feeling sick with nerves before qualifying. He battled up into the mid-pack, got underneath young Kaulig Racing teammate Mini Tyrrell, rode side by side with him for ten laps, and eventually made slight contact that sent Tyrrell spinning.

After his final pit stop, he felt a severe vibration and nursed a loose wheel and tire rub for as long as Dover’s brutal concrete surface would allow. On lap 181, 19 laps short of the finish, the truck was done.

Bowyer had a specific reason for being there. He owns a Ram dealership in Emporia, Kansas.
Driving the No. 25 for Kaulig completed the manufacturer run for his career. Ram was the only major brand he had never driven for.

“This is the only manufacturer I’ve raced for, and to be able to do that was cool — to check that off.” He also acknowledged the marketing angle plainly. “Being a Ram dealer and getting all the adjustment there, that’s part of the team.”

On whether this was his last race ever, he was honest. “If it is, I’m glad what I walked away with.” But he left the door open. “If they need me or I can help them in any way with these Rams moving forward, then this might be a good thing.”

What Actually Happened at Dover’s NASCAR Race

The Truck Series returned to Dover for the first time in six years, and the race was exactly what Bowyer described: a front-runner’s track where clean air was king.

Busch took the lead immediately, swept both stages, and dominated from wire to wire. His race-best lap was 22.258 seconds at over 161 mph. Ty Majeski finished second, just 0.027 seconds off that pace at his personal best. Layne Riggs came home third, with Kaden Honeycutt fourth and Christopher Bell fifth.

Because Busch and Bell race full-time in the Cup Series, neither got Truck Series championship points. That made the race a major reshuffling event for the title picture. Majeski and Honeycutt both gained ground on the championship leader. Drivers who struggled, including Gio Ruggiero, who finished 20th, saw their playoff cushions shrink.

The No. 25 Ram truck’s 29th-place DNF and just got 8 owner points, putting pressure on whoever drives it next. That would be Jamie McMurray, who takes the wheel at the inaugural San Diego street race on June 19, a format he has never competed on in his career.