Editor’s Note: As the new racing season begins, this is the first of two articles on the Emporians of NASCAR. On Friday, an interview with Chris Tidwell, a mechanic with Kevin Harvick’s team.
Emporia native Clint Bowyer, who drives the Jack Daniels ’07 Chevy Monte Carlo for the Childress NASCAR team, is starting a new season of racing. He completed his rookie season last year with a record of 36 Races, no wins, four Top-5 finishes and 11 Top-10 finishes. He ranked 17th in points and has amassed $4,611,834 in career earnings.
By phone from Daytona, Bowyer talked about his expectations for his second season in the Nextel series.
Q How are you feeling about the new season and what did you do to get ready in the off season?
A In the last month we have been really busy. Since I got back from Christmas we have been doing a lot of testing. I have had some good tests so I am feeling pretty comfortable about where we are right now. For Daytona we tested good. The tire package that Goodyear brought is quite a bit harder than we had last year and the cars are slipping and sliding around a lot more. So we have had to put some down force things into the body to get them to turn.
Q Have you been testing the car of tomorrow and has it grown on you?
A The car of tomorrow is the key to the year in my opinion. Those teams that have done their homework and prepared are going to be the ones that shine.
The cars we are running right now everything is pretty close. That is the thing that disturbed me more than anything. They had such a good thing going and it is competitive and now they are going to throw a whole new car into the mix. So whoever gets it right first is really going to be the one to stand out this year.
These cars travel 3 inches less than the other cars do. The feel of that alone is big. This car, if it breaks the splitter on the front that is going to ruin all your down force. So this year you are really going to have to be careful with your driving style and take care of your car. Taking care of your car is going to be way more important than ever this year.
Q Is it hard to switch to a new car when you are still learning the current cars?
A NASCAR built the car to make the racing a lot more even and reduce some of the engineering costs. They are doing that by making them a lot simpler and limiting the things you can do on the chassis. But it is amazing how our engineers have found ways to make our cars handle well. When you are driving these cars they hardly feel any different than what we are already running.
Q What are your goals for this year?
A I really believe we can win a couple of races this year. Obviously our goal is to win the first one and get Jack Daniel’s their first win. We also want to make that chase. They have changed some rules in that chase and that is two more opportunities to get it. By the end of last year we were a top 10 car. We just need to work on our consistency to get that finish and we caught on to that by the end of the year. Looking back over last year we just got better and better each and every week. Last year Homestead wasn’t our best finish of the year but it was our best race of the year. We are progressing and I feel we are where we need to be right now.
Q Any crew changes this year?
A No changes and I think that will be another key to our success this year.
Q What advice do you give rookie drivers this year and are you glad to get the rookie stripe off your car?
A Heck, I wish I was in rookie class this year. I think it is going to be a lot easier class this year than last year. Every now and then a rookie will come ask questions. It is just a very demanding sport and tough situation to be in being a rookie. There is a lot of pressure and sponsor dollars all bearing down on you and you have to be the one to be the quarterback and make it all happen.
Q Did you get an airplane bought?
A We are still working on that. When you are buying expensive things like that it seems like it takes a lot longer then just going to the car dealership.
Q What has Richard Childress’ advice been for you?
A I have been spending some time with him I have had a lot of time to talk with him about this year and we are just working hard.
Q How have you been spending your time in Daytona?
A Last night we went to the dirt track and ran a late model. We are going back for another night of that. I got in a little over my head. I have only run a late model one other time. There are 91 cars here and they are the best late models in the country. Really, it is a cup race of the late models. Hopefully we will run a little bit better tonight.
Q You have mentioned you like playing the EA Sports NASCAR 2005 Chase for cup game on the Playstation. Since you are not in that game what driver do you like to use?
A Jeff Burton.
Q Any final thoughts?
A I am just excited about this year. This is our breakout season on both sides. Like on Busch I felt like I kept learning and getting better and better. We didn’t see the results in the Busch car but we ran really well and should have won four or five races. I am just tired of having that as part of my sentence “probably should have”. I just feel like this is going to be a big year. You hear a lot of talk about Sophomore slump but I feel like we got better as the year went on and the last race of the year was the best we had together. I feel like we can pick up where we left off last year and improve on that.