LOUDON, N.H. — The Chase for the championship is expected to be a battle between Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart — the heavyweights of NASCAR — for the Nextel Cup title.

Clint Bowyer just threw his name into the race.

Bowyer scored the first Nextel Cup victory of his career on Sunday by embarrassing the field at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he started from the pole and led 222 of 300 laps while beating Jeff Gordon to the finish line by more than 6 seconds.

"If you are going to win the first one of the year, that's the time to do it," Gordon said. "When we were up in New York, it seemed like everyone was like 'Clint Bowyer, he doesn't have a shot at the championship.'

"I think today was a real statement for him and I think it just proves that anybody in the top 12 can win this championship."

Bowyer started the Chase as the 12th seed, the only driver in the Chase field without a victory. He'd never finished higher than third before, and had led just 196 laps in his Cup career — 84 this season.

But NASCAR's scoring system rewards consistency, and Bowyer earned his spot in the title hunt with 12 top-10 finishes. Now he's got that coveted win, and it pushed him eight spots in the standings to fourth.

He trails Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who are tied for the lead, by just 15 points.

"Once you get into the Chase, you've got to go for broke," Bowyer said.

Gordon, the four-time series champion, finished second and was followed by two-time series champion Tony Stewart. Kyle Busch was fourth and followed by Martin Truex Jr., Johnson and Matt Kenseth as Chase drivers took the top seven spots.

Casey Mears was eighth, followed by Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley.

The Chase opener wasn't so kind to Carl Edwards (12th), Denny Hamlin (15th), Kevin Harvick (17th), Jeff Burton (18th) and Kurt Busch (25th). Although they were all running at the end, it's going to take top-10 finishes to decide this championship, and the competition is off to a tremendous headstart.

Stewart is 10 points behind Johnson and Gordon. Bowyer moved into fourth place, 15 points out. Kyle Busch jumped four spots to fifth and is 35 points behind. Truex is sixth, 40 points back, and Kenseth is seventh.

"We need to run better than that, obviously, to contend for a championship," said Kenseth, 54 points behind.

Edwards dropped four spots to eighth, and Hamlin fell three spots to ninth. Harvick is 10th. Burton 11th and Kurt Busch plummeted seven spots to 12th and is 102 points behind the leaders.

"It's kind of a bummer, but we worked hard to get in this Chase and we'll still work hard," said Kurt Busch, who had a motor problem.

The day belonged to Bowyer, who joined Truex as the two newcomers to the championship field. But because he had never been to Victory Lane, few considered him a legitimate title contender. By blowing away the field, he changed that.

Bowyer's car was so good, he knew the only thing that could beat him was himself. It happened last week in Richmond, when he spun.