KANSAS CITY, Kan. —
There’s an old cliché tossed around the sports world about always giving 110 percent.
Forgive Clint Bowyer if he doesn’t subscribe to that theory right now.
The Emporia native and NASCAR driver is a mere two races away from qualifying for his first Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship in just his second season driving the Jack Daniel’s 07 car, and he’s not about to do anything to mess that up.
“It’s affected our whole weekend, not just how I drive in the car,” Bowyer said Wednesday at the Kansas Speedway. “It’s very competitive (to get into the Chase), and you’ve got to drive 100 percent. But you don’t drive 110 percent.
“There’s a lot of conservative measures that we go through, as far as pit strategy, setup on the car and things like that. The last month, we’ve been pretty conservative.”
The reason for the conservative approach?
For starters, Bowyer is sitting in ninth in the Cup standings with 2,944 points. He’s hovered around that spot all season long, and he credits his consistency week in and week out for getting him not only into the top 10, but for keeping him there.
But several drivers have him squarely in their sights.
Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick is right behind Bowyer in 10th with 2,888 points, while Martin Truex Jr. (2,887) and Kurt Busch (2,879) round out the final two Chase spots. Then there’s fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. lurking in 13th, just 223 points back of Bowyer.
While it’s unlikely Bowyer would fall out of the top 12 this late in the season, he still has to deal with being a marked man, and he doesn’t want to do anything to give those teams gunning for his spot any sliver of an opening to move past him, or worse, knock him out altogether.
That, and Bowyer doesn’t want to drop a couple spots in the standings because, as he said, he wants to be taken seriously when it comes to contending for the championship.
“I don’t want to be the 11th- or 12th-place guy and have everybody say, ‘Oh, he didn’t win a race and he only got in because they changed the rules,’” he said. “I don’t want to be that guy. I want to be the guy that would have made it no matter what format they have.”
Getting a race win
Bowyer’s sophomore foray onto the Nextel Cup circuit has been a productive one. He’s run well all season, with 12 top-10 finishes, including two top-five placings. He even picked up his first career pole this year.
But Bowyer is nagged by the fact that he still doesn’t have a Nextel Cup race victory on his résumé. He’s the only driver in the top 12 in the standings without a victory.
He’s come close a few times this season, most recently with a third-place finish at Bristol last weekend, his highest finish ever in a Nextel Cup race. But with the Chase for the Cup rewarding drivers who win the “regular season” races by awarding them bonus points for each victory, Bowyer said a breakthrough needs to happen — soon.
“We’ve got to figure out how to make that next step,” he said. “We continue to get better as a race team, but our organization, we’ve got to pick up the pace. We’ve got to make that next step and turn the corner.”
Chasing the Chase
Despite all the pressure and the lack of a victory, being on the cusp of making the Chase has Bowyer excited.
“It’s a big deal to be a part of the Chase,” Bowyer said. “That’s where all the attention, all the exposure ... everything goes to that Chase, and if you’re not in it like we were last year, you’re basically practicing for the next year.
“We were running in the top five at a lot of races towards the end of last year, but they don’t even talk about you because you’re not the story, you’re not the deal.”
With so much emphasis put on making the Chase — from fans, teammates and owners alike — the idea of simply not messing up has brought about the conservative mentality Bowyer and his crew have taken over the last few months.
But should he make it through to the Chase — which seems to be a lock provided no major catastrophes occur within the next two weeks — Bowyer said there would be no holding back.
“Once you get in the Chase, you’ve got to go for broke,” he said. “You can’t worry about it. It pays for the big one.
“That’s what you’re after. That’s what your shot is for, and obviously you want to finish as best you can in the points, but the bottom line is you’re going for the championship, and until you’re out of that scenario, you’ve got to race for that.”