Clint Bowyer was in position to take advantage of the misfortune that befell Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. last night, and that was enough to put him in victory lane.

Bowyer led just three of 410 laps but took the checkered flag after a green-white-checkered restart in the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway. It followed a hectic final 30 laps in which a flat tire sidelined Hamlin and a late wreck knocked Earnhardt out of the lead.

"This is awesome," Bowyer said from victory lane. "I just took advantage of some misfortune right there up front."

It was Bowyer's second career victory, but it extended Earnhardt's winless streak to two years. His last victory came here in May 2006, and it appeared to the joy of the majority of the crowd that streak would end last night.

But Kyle Busch ended that.

Hamlin had pulled away from Earnhardt, running second, and third-place Busch. Those two raced side by side until Hamlin's right front tire started going flat, allowing the field to catch up to him. Earnhardt passed him on the outside, Busch on the inside.

Earnhardt held the lead until Lap 398 when he and Busch battled down the backstretch. Going into Turn 3, the two collided with Earnhardt sliding up into the outside wall and Busch slowing down to avoid the same fate.

"It was just a bummer deal," Busch said after the race. "We were both racing hard there. . . . From the front-end replay, it looked like he came down a little bit. I probably could have moved down a little bit, and he probably could have moved up a little bit.

"I apologize to those guys. It's tough because they had a great race car and they could have finished, if not winning the race, at least finished second."

That conflict opened the door for Bowyer to dip below the smoke and gain the lead as the caution came out. As Bowyer was plotting his restart strategy, his spotter said, "Nobody here's liking that 18 [Busch] right now, so ain't nothing really going to matter. Let's go!"

Bowyer restarted with Busch hot on his rear bumper at Lap 409, but he pulled away slowly as Busch had to deal with the charging Mark Martin.

He crossed the finish line while yelling, "Go get you some of that, boys!" over his team radio.

"The fastest car doesn't always win," Bowyer said, "and that's certainly the case tonight."

Unfortunately for Bowyer, he was overshadowed before he even won.

Earnhardt was visibly down in a television interview after finishing 15th. He's well aware of his popularity and said Busch would need extra security regardless of how innocent the accident was.

And Earnhardt said he wouldn't say it was intentional, because the two had raced cleanly the rest of the race. His only problem was with going home without the hardware.

"The worst part about it is, I've been priding myself on running good all year and I was in position for a win, and I ran hard and got wrecked," Earnhardt said. "I had a top-three car and should have finished in the top three. I was going for the win. I just ended up on the hook today. It's just disappointing."

Busch finished second, so he could still joke about it. But he also realizes driving the car that had contact with Earnhardt before him going into the wall isn't something too many fans will forget easily.

"They were awfully confused because they were giving me the No. 1 sign for the last 10 laps and I was in second place," Busch said. "For me, there's nothing you can say. If I apologized up and down, even though it may or may not be my fault, it doesn't make a difference. It's just unfortunate circumstances for him because he didn't get a win and for me because now I have to deal with it."