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By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 12, 2010)

AVONDALE, Ariz.—Clint Bowyer didn’t lose his touch during a three-year hiatus from NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.

Driving Kevin Harvick’s No. 2 Chevrolet, Bowyer won Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway in his first start in the series since Oct. 20, 2007 at Martinsville.

Todd Bodine also had reason to celebrate. With a 12th-place finish at Phoenix, Bodine wrapped up his second truck series championship. He leads Aric Almirola by an insurmountable 202 points entering next Friday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bowyer beat race runner-up Kyle Busch to the line by 1.039 seconds. Johnny Sauter finished third, followed by Matt Crafton and Almirola.

“Everybody back at the shop did such a great job building this thing,” Bowyer said. “They were excited about it before we came down here, and any time these guys get excited about building a truck back at the shop, you know as a racecar driver that you’re going to have a good hot rod, and we certainly did.

“I love this series, and I think this is some of the best racing we have in NASCAR. It’s fun to be back in it.”

Bowyer had the dominant truck in the early going. After taking the top spot from polesitter Austin Dillon following a restart on Lap 24, Bowyer opened a lead that reached 6.626 seconds before NASCAR called the second caution of the race on Lap 53 because of fluid on the track.

Busch led 25 laps in the middle of the race, but Bowyer reasserted his superiority after beating Busch out of the pits for a restart on Lap 67.

Bodine added the 2010 crown to his 2006 truck series title.

“Along the way, we had a lot of good luck,” Bodine said. “Along with good performance, along with hard work, you’ve got to have good luck, and we had it this year. We did that. But the old adage is ‘You make your own luck,’ and this team has done a great job all year of doing that.”

Note: Busch, who drives his own No. 18 Toyota, holds a 120 point lead over Bodine’s No. 30 Toyota, fielded by Germain Racing, in the battle for the owners’ championship.

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1 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
2 43 A J Allmendinger Insignia HDTV Ford
3 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
4 16 Greg Biffle 3M Scotch Ford
5 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet
6 00 David Reutimann TUMS Toyota
7 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
8 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
9 9 Aric Almirola Budweiser Ford
10 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
11 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota
12 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
13 47 Marcos Ambrose Little Debbie/Safeway Toyota
14 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
15 17 Matt Kenseth Valvoline Ford
16 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
17 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota
18 39 Ryan Newman U.S. ARMY Chevrolet
19 98 Paul Menard Peak/Menards Ford
20 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Old Spice Chevrolet
21 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
22 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
23 19 Elliott Sadler Paralyzed Veterans Of America Ford
24 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
25 83 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
26 09 Bobby Labonte C & J Energy Chevrolet
27 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
28 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
29 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
30 12 Brad Keselowski No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge
31 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Diet Mntn Dew Paint 88/Natl Guard Chevrolet
32 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
33 26 JJ Yeley Air Guard Ford
34 7 Robby Gordon Polaris Toyota
35 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
36 55 Mike Bliss PRISM Motorsports Toyota
37 37 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
38 38 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford
39 64 Landon Cassill Empire Steel Toyota
40 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
41 71 Brendan Gaughan South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet
42 34 Tony Raines A&W All American Food Ford
43 81 Terry Labonte Red Line Oil Dodge

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We have seen it a number of times already this year: drivers showing emotion after the pre-season “Boys, Have At It” edict from NASCAR. To name a few: Joey Logano vs. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton vs. Kyle Busch; Logano vs. Ryan Newman; Todd Bodine vs. Kyle Busch.

But this past weekend might have been the most interesting case in point.

During a late-race caution at Texas, Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon wrecked on the backstretch. Gordon, clearly upset, got out of his car, walked to Burton and, well, threw down.

The shoving match between NASCAR’s two elder statesmen was quickly broken up, but the bad feelings may continue. Here’s what Gordon had to say after the incident: “I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for him, but I certainly lost a lot of respect today.”

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New Leader, the 11

You’ll have to go back a bit to find the last time Jimmie Johnson failed to hold the points lead at this juncture in the season. In each of his four championship seasons, Johnson was atop series standings with two races to go.

Not this year.

That luxury belongs to Denny Hamlin, who won his series-high eighth race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Here’s some history Hamlin will like hearing: the points leader with two to go has won the championship every season in the Chase era (2004-2009). The last time the points leader with two races remaining failed to win the championship was 1992, when Bill Elliott relinquished an 85-point advantage to Alan Kulwicki.