Race 2 Win: Nationwide Series Race Notes

Nationwide Series

Nicorette 300 - Clint Bowyer Notes

Clint Bowyer
No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Nicorette 300 – March 8, 2008
Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.

NOTES:

This Week’s BB&T Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 073 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) stable. This is the same car Bowyer drove to a ninth-place finish two races ago at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California. Formerly a No. 29 Holiday Inn racer, Jeff Burton won three races last fall with this car. Burton notched victories in September at Auto Club Speedway, in October at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In four starts last season, Chassis No. 073 won three times and finished eighth at Kansas Speedway. Bowyer in the Loop …

Atlanta Action … In four NNS starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), Bowyer has a sixth-place finish to call a career-best in Nationwide Series action at NASCAR’s fastest track. The Emporia, Kan., native has finished on the lead lap in three of his four starts and has a respectable 15.3 average finish at the lightning-quick 1.54-mile race course. In NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) competition at the 24-degree banked speedway, Bowyer logged back-to-back sixth-place finishes last season. In four NSCS races at AMS, the 28-year-old driver owns an 18.8 starting average, a 16th-place average finish and has completed 1,301 of the 1,304 total laps contested over that span.

Chasing a Championship … Bowyer scored his first top-three finish of 2008 in last weekend’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At the same time, he climbed four spots, from 10th to sixth, in the NNS driver’s point standings. It was the second time in two weeks Bowyer made notable gains in his run at the division title. With his ninth-place finish two races ago in California he catapulted 14 positions in the standings, recovering from a 24th-place finish in the season opener three weeks ago at Daytona International Speedway. In two races, Bowyer has rocketed from 24th to sixth in points – a head-turning swing of 18 positions.

Speaking of Stats … According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Bowyer has spent 93 percent of the laps contested this season running in the top 15. Of the 472 laps run during the division’s first three races, Bowyer has been in the top 15 for 439 of those laps. He is second in the Average Running Position category (7.581) and third in the Driver Rating category (105.2). The Driver Rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The Driver Rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator. Bowyer is also the division’s fourth-best Closer – a statistic derived from the number of positions improved over the closing 10 percent of each race. Bowyer has gained an average of two spots over the season’s first three races and has improved a total of six positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races.

Give Me Burgundy, White and Gold … After featuring a Camping World paint scheme at the last two races, Bowyer’s No. 2 machine returns to its traditional burgundy, white and gold BB&T colors this weekend in Atlanta.

RCR Nationwide Cars in Atlanta … In 18 NNS starts at AMS, RCR Nationwide Series cars have earned two wins (Burton – ’06 & ’07), three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

Catch the Cup Race … Following his duties behind the wheel of the BB&T Chevy, Bowyer will turn his attention to the No. 07 DIRECTV Chevrolet Impala SS for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500. Live coverage of the fourth race on the 2008 Sprint Cup Series schedule will take the green flag Sunday, March 9 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will be televised live on FOX and broadcast worldwide on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the third race of 2008 for NASCAR’s senior circuit will be televised live on SPEED Friday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will also carry qualifying live.

Up to Speed … The Nicorette 300 from Atlanta Motor Speedway will be televised live on ESPN2 Saturday, March 8 beginning at 1:30 p.m. EST. The race will be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the fourth points-paying race of the season for NASCAR’s junior division will be televised on SPEED the same day at 9 a.m. EST.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
You’ve gotten off to a pretty good start on the Nationwide side. You haven’t gotten a win yet but, other than that, there’s not a whole lot to complain about.
“It hasn’t been too bad but we certainly hoped for a win by now. The BB&T Chevrolet ran very well at Daytona but I made a mistake and got in the fence and cost us a top-five finish. We’ve had the speed and shown the poise, we just have to put it all together. There are a lot of new faces on this team but once we start gelling better, I think we’ll be just fine.”

You finished sixth at Atlanta last year. It wasn’t a great run but definitely a solid one.
“That was last season for us in a nut shell. We had a solid year. That’s what we were. We were solid week in and week out and that’s what it takes. If we can build on what we had last year, even a little bit, we’re going to be a threat for this championship. Atlanta is one of my favorite race tracks so hopefully we can pick up where we left off last year and even step it up a little bit.”

What is it about the number six? You were sixth in the Nationwide race last year and sixth in both Cup races?
“Man, I don’t know. Hopefully, we can fix that. Getting into the top five is the goal. If we can start running in the top five consistently, we’re going to knock on the door for wins. That’s what we aim to do. We have to pick it up a little bit and we’ll be in good shape.”