Over the last 83 laps in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dover 200, the RCR Holiday Inn Monte Carlo/Impala was untouchable at Dover International Speedway this Saturday. On both long runs and short runs, Clint Bowyer and crew had Dover's Monster Mile figured out.

The day didn't start out that way, with dark rain clouds threatening from morning on. The track was cool and the cars were fast.

Kyle Busch had the NOS Toyota Camry on point with Carl Edwards and the Scotts Wild Bird Food Fusion on the outside of row one.

A smooth run by Mike Bliss in the Ridesmakerz Camry pipped Denny Hamlin's Doosan Infracore Camry for third in qualifying. Bliss' speed would show again late in the race.

Scott Speed, Ryan Newman, Steve Wallace, rookie John Wes Townley, Dennis Setzer and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top 10 qualifiers with Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski right behind that group.

Busch jumped to a strong lead and held on to it for most of the first 100 laps, it was the second 100 laps that did him in. After being pressured by Carl Edwards early, he lost radio contact with his pit, after that, he lost the handle on his car.

After a caution at the midway point for Tim Andrews' blown engine, mayhem struck the NOS Camry team...hard.

Unable to communicate the car's needs to his crew, the handling went away as the track cooled and the clouds became solid overcast. For the next 20 laps the NOS Camry struggled to find balance on what Busch thought were a miss-matched set of tires and that was all the opening Clint Bowyer needed.

A couple of short runs complicated strategy but in the end it was all #29.

Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth got into it coming off turn four. Newman had given Hamlin a "GO" bump on the backstretch and let Kenseth get a run on the #33 on the high side. Newman slid up into Kenseth coming to the straight and his day was done, the Kevin Harvick owned Copart Chevrolet too damaged to finish.

Bowyer again took the lead on the re-start and never looked back, cruising out front and challenge free.

Denny Hamlin's day just kept getting weirder. As Hamlin was moving on Kyle Busch with 18 to go, Keselowski ran up inside Hamlin out of turn two and a nudge put Denny into the inside wall, ending a stellar run for new sponsor Doosan Infracore.

Bowyer walked off with the restart and his deal was in the bank.

Hamlin's frustration boiled over in pit lane with a visit to the GoDaddy pit after the race and after some finger pointing and chest thumping, a female member of the Keselowski entourage finally pushed Hamlin out of harm's way. Tough lady.

Keselowski, who ran in the back half of the top 10 early and earned a one lap speeding ticket on the first green flag stop, got fast late and made a run at the leaders for the rest of the race, finally passing Kyle Busch for 3rd place. Edwards slipped back after mid-way and never was a factor, finishing 5th.

Jason Leffler improved from 12th to 6th and Scott Speed ran well in the first half but the set up wore down after a round of pit-stops and the Red Bull Camry finished 8th. David Reutimann finished 9th and Jason Keller rounded out the top 10 with an excellent run from 18th on the grid.

The rains didn't come until the cool down laps were in and the trophy was in Victory Lane. NASCAR did an excellent job of managing both time and...the weather. Clint Bowyer ran all 200 laps, the sparse crowd was happy and I'm sure that Mike Helton was too...somewhat.

44 cars showed up for the sponsor-less Dover 200, by lap 190 there were only 35 cars on the track, by the halfway mark, only 30 were left. Some teams tried and struggled like Joe Nemechek and Brad Teague, others were obviously start and park operations. Dennis Setzer, who put an unsponsored Dodge in 9th on the grid...was gone by lap 4 with "handling" issues. That must have hurt.

The story of the day though, was former USAC Silver Crown and Truck Series Champion, Mike Bliss. Sitting 8th in the Nationwide Series point standings and now roaming the garage for rides, Bliss needed a good run here at Dover, and he delivered.

Bliss and his crew had the Ridesmakerz Toyota up front all day, never missing a beat in owner Bryan Mullet's Toyota Camry, finishing a solid second place with Brad Keselowski all over his bumper.

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