Fourth became second within a matter of laps as Bowyer disposed of Ryan Newman and Gordon although Stewart proved to be a tougher nut to crack. However as the leaders began to work through a thick pack of traffic Bowyer saw his opportunity and regained the lead on lap 109.
As Bowyer pulled away at the front again the first cracks in the overall Chase armoury appeared as Busch began experiencing a mystery loss of power and Kevin Harvick suffered a puncture, necessitating an early stop for fresh tyres and a drop in position from seventh to 36th.
Luckily for Harvick the next caution period didn't begin until after the rest of the field had completed their round of pitstops, which allowed the current
Daytona 500 champion to move back onto the lead lap and into contention for a top ten place.
When the caution flag did eventually wave for a third time, for debris on lap 149, it was too close to the previous round of stops to entice any of the leaders onto pit road although the fourth caution period, for Dave Blaney's turn one spin, did result in several drivers throwing the strategy card and neglecting to pit as Bowyer and the majority of the leaders made their fourth stops of the afternoon.
One of the drivers who elected to stay out was Kyle Busch, who assumed the lead from his Hendrick teammate Casey Mears and the #41 Ganassi Dodge of Reed Sorenson although Sorenson soon spun away his newly found position to bring out caution period number five on lap 169.
The race restarted on lap 173 with Bowyer in fourth place behind the out of sequence Busch and Mears and Harvick, who took two new tyres on his previous stop. However Bowyer wasn't able to make the most of his superior car just yet as a spin for Dale Earnhardt Jr and another incident for Blaney put the field behind the pace car twice more before the 200 lap mark.
![Clint Bowyer and crew chief Gil Martin at Daytona. [Pic Credit Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/190200.jpg)
