Clint Bowyer gives an update on racing as a rookie on the Nextel Cup series and his second year racing in the Busch series. He ranks fourth in the Busch series and 18 in the Nextel. This interview was done before the Bristol race last week where he ran well. He won the pole in the Busch series and placed third in the Nextel Cup.
This is your rookie season in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup series. How do you feel this season is going?
I think things are going pretty good but we have had some bad races where luck hasn’t gone our way. I am a firm believer in making your own luck a lot of times but a lot times things are just out of our hands. Like Pocano and our incident with (Tony) Stewart, blowing a motor at Michigan and last week with a wheel falling off. We just can’t seem to get this bad luck bug off our back.
You and your teammate Jeff Burton both blew engines at Michigan. What happened?
It is funny we both blew up but it was something completely different. Typically when teams blow up like that it is because they tried something new like a new valve spring. But our problem was oil related. We just ran out of oil. At the big tracks like that where we run wide open the motors burn an enormous amount of oil. It just burned up.
Despite some bad luck, you have run well this year — and in front.
In the Busch car, for about a month, we were the fastest car at the track. Then we lost one of our good cars because it got tore up and we lost our good short track car when (Ron) Hornaday got into the back of us. It has just been bad luck. I have been racing long enough that when things aren’t going your way there just isn’t a darn thing you can do about it. But you just have to keep doing what you are doing and things will eventually turn around.
What has been the best part of your season?
When we have run good and we have had the speed, we run up front. I just feel fortunate to do something I love.
Now that you are coming back to tracks for a second time, how much does that help you?
Going to these tracks for the first time and competing against guys who have been racing around these tracks for five or six years and have thousands of laps around the track is hard. But returning to the tracks for a second time will be huge. We are also getting experience on how to call the race.
You made headlines earlier this season when Tony Stewart wrecked you in retaliation for crowding him. What is your take on that?
You can’t get mad at someone in a race car because they won’t pull over. I am not the only person he has had a run in with. He has had incidents with Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth also. I think after we sit down with NASCAR officials that it will probably not happen again.
When you wreck people it is an accident. But you don’t wreck someone on purpose. And when people do wreck people on purpose that is when the sport gets dangerous and someone gets hurt or killed. Obviously you race fast when you are out there and wrecks do happen but when it starts happening on purpose...
Do the on-track feuds carry on off-track?
Yeah they do. I was invited to go down to his El Dora speedway and run in charity race. But I canceled that.
How is your promotion schedule this year? Is it keeping you busy?
It has been good and they keep you busy. Your sponsors spend millions of dollars and its important to them to have the driver to represent them at events throughout the year. So we have a lot of Jack Daniel’s stuff and Direct TV events.
The fame of being a NASCAR driver, is that getting you noticed when you are out or at airports?
Well, that is the fortunate thing. I haven’t been in an airport in about a year. That is one good thing about the job, they have us flying private so we get to stay out of that headache. But, I am starting to get noticed where you wouldn’t think. The exposure is good for the sponsor and that is what it’s about.
What are your goals for the rest of the season?
It’s all about performance and points. We have had three pretty bad weekends in a row and that is a huge hit in points. So we have to get those points back.
Our first goal is to get into the top 15 as fast as we can and then charge after 11th place. That is a million dollar bonus and a trip to New York. I think we can do it and we are a strong enough team to do it. If you can get into the top 15 your first year that is good. You are running with some top competition like Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards who are 12th and 13th so that tells you how competitive this sport is.
We have to start getting good finishes. We have a good fleet of cars. We have a good car that we ran at Indy and Michigan and it has never run outside the top five. So we are going to make that our big work horse at these big tracks and hopefully we won’t tear it up. But if we do we have a sister car that we scanned the body to get an exact replica. By the numbers in the wind tunnel it is possibly showing a little bit better. The way it’s looking Kansas could be my best shot at winning a race. But I’m trying to keep the fenders on so I can bring it to Kansas.
Do you see a big surge in media attention when you are running well?
Oh definitely. It’s a performance-based business. If the performance isn’t there they aren’t going to be talking about you, the sponsors aren’t happy, the boss isn’t happy and that is when you start stressing. So that is why I say that getting that car back into the top 15 is all that’s on my mind and then go from there. I set up an incentive plan with my team five races ago. I want to hit it and if we do I told them we would load up Richard’s (Childress) planes and head down to the Bahamas for a couple of days
What is your favorite and your most difficult track?
My favorite track is probably Bristol. The atmosphere in Bristol is awesome. You either get out of there with a smile on your face or you’ve had the worst weekend of your life. You are going so fast around that track if you have the track position and your car is running good you will be up front and if not you will be in the back and wrecked in the middle of the pack. It is a very humbling race track. When you start thinking life is good it will bite you.
Any final thoughts?
Obviously, I am looking forward to getting back to Emporia as soon as I can and see everybody there. But I have been busy trying to get these points back.