Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer's NASCAR Showdown Wins Could Boost Their Fortunes

The NASCAR Sprint Showdown provided electric racing Friday night, for two of the final three spots in the All-Star Race went to the beleaguered Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.

The two drivers are numerically beside each other—the No. 15 and No. 16 cars—and are winning drivers who have been in extended droughts that have tested their patience since 2012. Biffle has 19 wins, 12 poles and 88 top-fives as a full-time driver since 2003. Bowyer, while not earning as many frequent guest points in Victory Lane, has eight wins, two poles and 55 top-fives since 2006.

Biffle won the first segment of the Showdown by starting down on the inside on the front row. He got the jump on pole-sitter Paul Menard, leading all 20 laps.

“I'm so excited to be ready to race for a $1 million,” Biffle said during the Fox Sports 1 broadcast. “It was so exciting at the start, and I'm excited to be in the big show.”

During the broadcast, Darrell Waltrip said, "He's cutting the best laps out there."

In the grand scheme, this race means little. There are no points. A win in the Showdown or the All-Star Race doesn't guarantee a spot in the increasingly elusive Chase. But some results can't be measured, and this “win” of sorts is just what Biffle and Bowyer needed.

For Biffle and Roush Fenway Racing, frustrations percolated after the Auto Club 400. Biffle said in Mike Hembree's USA Today story:

"

It's difficult as a competitor to show up at a place you've won twice at and come off the truck 32nd in speed. This is difficult. I didn't mean we were dying a slow death. You want to unload off the truck and be 10th, or you want to unload off the truck and be in the top 10 or top 15.

"

That has been the case for Biffle since 2013, the last time he won a race. It was on June 6 at Michigan. Since then, the No. 16 has been a mediocre car. He pointed his way into the Chase in 2014, but he was never a threat and was eliminated after the Challenger Round.

Bowyer's well is even dryer than Biffle's well. The last time Bowyer burned out to Victory Lane was on October 13, 2012, at Charlotte.

In Friday night's Sprint Showdown, he sat right behind the pole-sitter at the start.

“I don't know how you figure I got it better than [Menard],” Bowyer told Waltrip during the Fox Sports 1 broadcast. “I do plan on passing his ass when this thing goes green.”

He eventually did. And then on a restart after a caution with 18 laps to go in the second segment, Bowyer, who elected for four tires during the post-first-segment pit stop, had too much grip for Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr.

Bowyer made a powerful move on the inside as the first car in a three-wide scurry for clean air. He made the path and widened on four fresh tires to the others' two tires.

“With four tires on that [No.] 15 car, I’d say adios!” Waltrip said during the Fox Sports 1 broadcast.

During the broadcast, Bowyer said, “Those guys took two tires, and on a 20-lap dash, you gotta just go for it. That's what 20-lap dashes are all about. After the year we've had, I felt like going out there and doing a burnout.”

Bowyer has had no speed in 2015. His average start is 21.5 with an average finish of 19.4 and one top-10. Things just haven't been the same since he won three races in 2012. Then there was that drama of "falling on his sword" at Richmond International Speedway.

Bowyer was accused of spinning out in order to ensure a spot in the Chase for his teammate Truex. The spin-out threatened Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon's chances at the postseason.

Despite evidence to the contrary, Bowyer said after that race in an Associated Press story (h/t ESPN.com): “We had a flat tire or something. It just snapped around. I know it's a lot of fun for you guys to write a lot of wacky things. Go ahead if you want to, get creative. But don't look too much into it."

With that now long behind him, this 5-Hour Energy jolt in the arm puts him in the running for $1 million and more reps around the oval where he last won. The Coca-Cola 600 takes place there May 24.

Danica Patrick, who won the fan vote, also cited the Coca-Cola 600 as a bonus for racing Saturday night. 

"What I am is super lucky and fortunate for fans to give me a chance to make the car better," Patrick said on the Fox Sports 1 broadcast. 

As for Biffle, who took up the mantle as RFR's star driver after the departure of Carl Edwards, he saw what winning the Showdown—and possibly the All-Star Race—could mean for his team.

“Hopefully, this is speed we've got coming down the road,” he said during the Fox Sports 1 broadcast.

That's what this is all about: not the Showdown, not the All-Star Race, not $1 million, but speed down the road.