Race 2 Win: Nationwide Series Race Notes

Nationwide Series

O’Reilly 300 - Clint Bowyer Notes

Clint Bowyer
No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: O’Reilly 300 – April 5, 2008
Venue: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

NOTES:

This Week’s Camping World Chevrolet at Texas 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 in February at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California. He also finished 19th at Atlanta Motor Speedway with this car after a penalty on pit road cost him one lap. Formerly a No. 29 Holiday Inn racer, Jeff Burton won three races with this car last fall. 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.

And Now, a Word From Our Sponsor … For the third time this season, Bowyer’s No. 2 Chevrolet will showcase a blue and gold Camping World paint scheme. Camping World offers over 8,000 quality products geared toward the RVing community through 65 nationwide SuperCenters, a well-established catalog call center and an award-winning Web site. Camping World is the industry leader in RV accessories and services. In addition to RVs, Camping World provides its customers with high-quality products and services to help enhance their life on the road. BB&T, the No. 2 machine’s traditional sponsor, will be featured on the car’s lower rear quarter panels. Bowyer will also drive the Camping World Chevy next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

The Texas Report … In six NNS starts at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), Bowyer has earned one top-five and three top-10 finishes. Over those six starts, Bowyer has logged a less-than spectacular 19.2 starting average but has bounced back nicely with a 14.7 average finish at the high-speed Fort Worth race track. He also made his first career NNS start at TMS on April 3, 2004 where he qualified sixth but wound up 36th in the final rundown. Since then, the six-time NNS winner hasn’t finished worse than 18th at TMS.

Chasing a Championship … Following his runner-up finish two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway, Bowyer moved to the top of the charts in the NNS championship point standings. The 2005 championship runner-up leads Carl Edwards by 11 points and third-place David Reutimann by a 71-point spread. In six races, dating back to the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, Bowyer has rocketed from 25th to first in points.

RCR Nationwide Notes at TMS … In 24 NNS starts at TMS, RCR boasts one pole (Jeff Green – April 2002), four wins (Kevin Harvick – March 2001, April 2006, Nov. 2006 and Nov. 2007), seven top fives and 15 top 10s. RCR-prepared race cars have also led 545 laps at the mile-and-half Fort Worth racing complex.

Six Races, Two Wins … In six NNS races this season, RCR-prepared Nationwide Series entries, have notched two wins (Bowyer – Bristol, Scott Wimmer – Nashville), six top-five and nine top-10 finishes. RCR cars have also led 265 of the 1,066 (24.8 percent) total laps run this season.

Three Cars this Weekend … RCR has three entries in Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 at TMS. In addition to Bowyer’s No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet, team owner Richard Childress will field the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevy with Jeff Burton and the No. 21 Prilosec OTC Wal-Mart Chevy with Texas native Bobby Labonte.

Texas Truck Triumph … Bowyer’s lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) win came at Texas in November 2006. In just his third career NCTS start, the Emporia, Kan., driver won the pole and went on to beat Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner in Morgan-Dollar Motorsports No. 46 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Silverado.

Chevy Antes up for Autism … Autism Speaks and Chevrolet recently announced a month-long promotion to help generate up to $1 million for the non-profit organization and create greater awareness of autism, a disorder that is now diagnosed in one in every 150 children. During April – Autism Awareness Month – people who go to the Autism Speaks website (www.autismspeaks.org), can click on the “Help Chevy Help Autism” icon and take a free virtual test drive of the 2008 North American Car of the Year – the all-new Chevy Malibu. Chevrolet has committed to a minimum contribution of $500,000, but every virtual test drive taken gets Chevrolet closer to its goal of donating up to $1 million to Autism Speaks to support its mission of increasing awareness of autism and raising money to fund autism research. Those who participate in the virtual test drive will be offered a free 30-day online trial of XM Satellite Radio.

Lotsa Laps in the Lone Star State … Following his duties behind the wheel of the Camping World Chevy, Bowyer will turn his attention to the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS for Sunday’s Samsung 500. Live coverage of the seventh race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2008 schedule begins Sunday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The event will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying is scheduled to take the green-flag on Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m. EDT and will be telecast live on SPEED. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live qualifying updates.

Catch the Action … Flag-to-flag coverage of the O’Reilly 300 from Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live on ESPN2 Saturday, April 5 beginning at 2:30 p.m. EDT. The seventh of 35 races on the 2008 calendar for NASCAR’s junior circuit will also be broadcast live PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
What do you remember about your first Nationwide Series race at Texas?
“We were really good. We tested there and qualified sixth but, obviously, I didn’t have any experience on a longer race track but I had to learn somewhere. That’s the hardest thing for these drivers. You see new drivers that we develop at RCR and you just try to help them through those times. That’s the hardest, most nerve-wracking time of your career. That’s the most pressure you’ll ever feel as a race car driver … trying to solidify a job with one of these race teams. I crashed during the race and the first thing I thought about was getting fired and having to go back to Kansas. I’m glad Richard (Childress) gave me another crack at it.”