"It's great to finally get the deal sealed at Nashville," said Bowyer, who has five top-five finishes in five starts on the 1.3-mile concrete oval. "It all started for me here two years ago in an ARCA race and Richard Childress saw me.

"I absolutely cannot believe it. I've been in position before where I thought we had it and I spoke too soon. But I didn't speak too soon today."

The 26-year-old driver for Richard Childress Racing became the sixth driver to race to his first series victory in nine races on the track. He averaged 122.141 miles an hour. The race was slowed by eight caution periods.

There was a precarious moment on the final lap, with Johnny Benson spinning to bring out the yellow flag, but Bowyer had already taken the white flag, and easily held off Wallace for the victory.

Rookie Reed Sorenson, who raced to his first Busch Series victory at the track in April, finished third to take the series points lead.

Tony Raines was third, followed by Martin Truex Jr., David Stremme, Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley, Johnny Sauter and Paul Wolfe.

The field started according to owner points after qualifying was rained out Saturday, putting then-series leader Carl Edwards on the pole. However, he had to skip the race to run in the Nextel Cup race Sunday at Pocono in Pennsylvania.

By rule, Edwards' backup, Hank Parker Jr., had to start at the end of the field. He finished a lap down in 20th place.

Sorenson has a 51-point lead over Bowyer and defending champion Truex. Edwards dropped to fourth, 96 points off the lead.