Race 2 Win: Ford 400 - Clint Bowyer Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Ford 400 - Clint Bowyer Notes

Clint Bowyer
No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Ford 400 – November 19, 2006
Venue: Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car at Homestead-Miami Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 170 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for 2006, this is the same Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Bowyer raced to a career-best third-place finish Labor Day weekend at California Speedway. Bowyer also raced this car to a fourth-place result at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In August at Michigan, he was running third with three laps to go when the motor let go, ultimately leaving him 33rd in the final rundown. Bowyer also raced Chassis No. 170 at Kansas Speedway where he led 40 laps, before a brush with the turn two wall left him ninth in the final rundown. Most recently, Bowyer drove this car to a fifth-place finish two races ago at Texas Motor Speedway.

Heckuva Rookie Run … Prior to Homestead, over the course of his rookie season, Bowyer has earned four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 2006. He earned a career-best third-place finish Labor Day weekend at California Speedway and recorded his best qualifying effort by sitting on the outside pole in August at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With a fifth-place or better finish, regardless how Ryan Newman does in 18th-place, the Emporia, Kan., native will wrap up his rookie campaign 17th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings. By comparison, Bowyer’s RCR teammate, and 1994 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Jeff Burton finished 20th in the final points tally during his rookie season, notching two top-five and three top-10 finishes.

Make it Four, for RCR … RCR’s newest driver, Scott Wimmer, will attempt to qualify the No. 33 Holiday Inn Chevrolet for the Ford 400, making it four entries for RCR this weekend. Wimmer, a five-time winner in NASCAR’s Busch Series, will split driving duties with Jeff Burton in the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet for the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series campaign.

RCR at Homestead … Homestead has been a bit of an Achilles Heel for RCR and is one of the few race tracks where team owner Richard Childress hasn’t earned a victory. As a company, RCR’s best finish at HMS came in the 2003 Ford 400 when Kevin Harvick finished second. In 19 starts, RCR has one top-five and eight top-10 finishes at the mile-and-a-half, progressively-banked oval.

Putting on the Finishing Touches … Bowyer will make his final start behind the wheel of the storied No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet this weekend in the last Busch Series race on the 2006 calendar. Live coverage of the Ford 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway gets underway Saturday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on TNT. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio will also carry the race broadcast live. Bowyer is currently third in the Busch Series point standings heading into the season finale – 96 points behind Carl Edwards for second. Kevin Harvick locked up his second Busch Series championship four races ago at Charlotte. If Harvick wins this weekend at Homestead, he will tie Sam Ard’s single season win record of 10 set in 1983. Team Owner Richard Childress locked up his third Busch Series Owner’s Championship three races ago at Memphis, giving RCR its 10th overall NASCAR title.

Are you Experienced … Bowyer will visit the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, November 19 from 10:30-10:45 a.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience is a 53-foot tractor trailer filled with artifacts, state-of-the art video monitors, sound system and graphics to give race fans a taste of Lynchburg and the Distillery. The JDX will be located outside of turn one, near Gate Two, on speedway property and will be open on Friday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., on Saturday from noon.- 7 p.m. and on Sunday from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Up to Speed … Live coverage of the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, November 19 beginning at 2 p.m. EST with television coverage provided by NBC. The event will also be broadcast live on MRN and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season finale will air live on SPEED, MRN and XM Satellite Radio Friday, November 17 at 3 p.m. EST.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
Can you assess your rookie season in the NEXTEL Cup Series?
“There’s a lot of different ways you can look at it. We’ve got a pretty good shot at finishing 17th in the points. That’s something I think we can look back on and say was a pretty respectable accomplishment. This series is so tough and for a rookie team to finish in the top 20, I’d have to say that’s a positive. We’ve also had very fast race cars. When we’ve come to the race track, we’ve come with fast cars right out of the truck and been able to knock down some top fives and a handful of top 10s. On the flip side, we haven’t been able to buy a break this year. We’ve had cars capable of winning races and finishing in the top five and one way or another, we haven’t been able to close the deal a lot of times. Last weekend at Phoenix sums up what seems to happen to us. We were in the top 10 all day and with six laps to go, we get into the back of our teammate and knock an oil fitting loose. I mean, that’s how it’s been. We haven’t had bad luck, we’ve had dumb luck. On one side of the coin, I’m ready for the season to end. Hopefully, after this season all the bad luck, or whatever you want to call it, will be behind us. On the other side of the coin, I want to keep racing because we run well every week.”