Clint Bowyer dominated Friday night to win at Phoenix International Raceway as Todd Bodine became the 2010 champion!

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Leading twice for a race-high 97 of 150 laps, Clint Bowyer easily beat Kyle Busch to the finish line by a little over a second.

“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,” Bowyer said. “I think this is some of the best racing we have in NASCAR. It’s fun to be back in it.” This is Bowyer’s second series victory in only starts. His last win in the series came at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2006.

In a race that only saw four leaders, Busch was out in front for 25 laps.

“The guys gave me a great Z-Line Designs Tundra, but the 2 (Clint Bowyer) was the class of the field tonight,” runner-up Busch said. “We had a great points night tonight. Obviously, there are two winners here with Bodine and Clint, but maybe next week will be ours.”

In his first year as an owner and driver, Busch with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) leads the series owners standings by 120 points over champion Todd Bodine’s #30 Germain Racing entry.

Johnny Sauter finished third followed by Matt Crafton, Aric Almirola and Mike Skinner.

Starting from the pole, rookie Austin Dillon led the first 24 laps and finished solidly in the top-10, going home 7th.

David Starr, Justin Lofton and Bobby Hamilton Jr rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 27 laps: 18-23 (#89 accident Turn 4); 54-59 (Fluid on track); 62-66 (#4,9,25 accident Turn 2); 90-95 (#72 accident Turn 4); 115-118 (#3, 33 accident Turn 2)

There were 4 lead changes among 4 drivers: A. Dillon # 1-24; C. Bowyer 25-66; K. Busch 67-91; J. Buescher 92-95; C. Bowyer 96-150

Because Todd Bodine leads the standings by 202 points over 2nd place competitor, Aric Almirola, Bodine officially clinched his second series championship with one race remaining. Bodine becomes just the third driver in truck series history to win multiple championships behind Ron Hornaday Jr and Jack Sprague. He’s also the third driver to win the championship with one race left in the season behind Greg Biffle and Ron Hornaday Jr.

Next:
Friday, November 19th -- Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (season finale)