Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Pep Boys Auto 500 - Clint Bowyer Notes

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

Event/Date: Pep Boys Auto 500 – October 28, 2007
Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.

NOTES:

This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 166 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. This is the same Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Bowyer drove to a second-place finish two races ago at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Peaking at the Right Time … In the six races since the Chase for the NASCAR Cup began (New Hampshire, Dover, Kansas, Talladega, Charlotte and Martinsville), Bowyer has earned one pole, one win, three top-five and four top-10 finishes. Over the course of those same six races, Bowyer has yet to finish worse than 12th. With the exception of Dover, Bowyer recorded career-best finishes at five of the six stops. Of the 12 drivers in the Chase, Bowyer ranks first in the Percentage of Laps Led category (15.6). He is third in the Driver Rating (103.7) and fourth in the Average Running Position (12.453) categories. Over those same six races, Bowyer has logged a compelling 6.2 average finish and is second only to points leader Jeff Gordon (3.8) in that category.

Bowyer in the Loop …

Tale of the Tape … In three NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), Bowyer has a sixth-place finish to call a career best. The Emporia, Kan., native has a 16.3 starting average and a 19.3 average finish at the suburban Atlanta race course. In four NASCAR Busch Series starts at AMS, Bowyer also calls a sixth-place effort (3/18/07) a career best.

What a Difference a Year Makes … Over the season’s first 32 races, Bowyer has recorded one win, two poles, five top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. He has a 16.6 starting average and, following his ninth-place run last weekend at Martinsville, improved his finishing average to 13.2. He has completed 9,222 of 9,340 total laps contested (98.74 percent) and sits third in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings, 53 points behind second-place Jimmie Johnson and 115 behind Gordon. Heading into the division’s second stop at AMS last season, Bowyer had a 20.9 starting average, a 19.8 average finish and was 18th in points. He had three top fives and nine top 10s at this point last year.

Speaking of Stats … Bowyer is the NASCAR Cup Series’ fifth-best Closer – a statistic derived from the number of positions improved over the last 10 percent of each race. Bowyer has gained an average of 1.563 spots over the season’s first 32 races and has improved a total of 50 positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races. The Emporia, Kan., native has also logged 5,471 of the 9,340 laps completed this season (58.6 percent) running in the top 15. Bowyer is ranked 11th in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (15.19) and is also 10th in the Driver Rating category (88.0). The Driver Rating is a formula that combines the following categories: 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.

Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has yet to record a DNF (did not finish) in 2007. He and fellow RCR teammate Kevin Harvick are the only two Chase drivers to have finished every race this season. Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Bristol last August, a streak of 45 races.

Staying After School … Bowyer and the Jack Daniel’s racing team will stay in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday following the Pep Boys Auto 500 to participate in the final NASCAR Cup Series test of the season. The Atlanta test replaces the two-day Car of Tomorrow (COT) test that was originally scheduled for May 14-15 at Dover International Speedway. RCR in the ATL … In 96 races at AMS, RCR has earned four poles and nine wins including Harvick’s emotional victory in the Cracker Barrel 500 on March 11, 2001. Prior to that, Dale Earnhardt won eight times at the ultra-fast Hampton, Ga., track. Additionally, RCR boasts 24 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes at AMS. Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, recorded his best finish at Atlanta with a ninth-place effort in the Atlanta Journal 500 on Nov. 2, 1980.

A Little Taste of Lynchburg … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, October 28 from 10:50 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience is a 42-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 Jack Daniel’s Experience will be located in the display area, outside the front straightaway, and will be open on Friday from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., on Saturday from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. and on Sunday from 7 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Catch the Action … Live coverage of the Pep Boys Auto 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, October 28 beginning at 1 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast worldwide on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round seven of NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs will be televised live on ESPN2 Friday, October 26 at 7 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide qualifying updates live.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
Would you be happy if you could duplicate the sixth-place run you had at Atlanta in the spring?
“Atlanta has been a good track for us. We’ve run well there in the past. I’ve been saying all along that I think we can pick up on all of our finishes from the spring races at these tracks. Hopefully, we’ll get out of there with a top five and stay in the hunt for this thing.”

Do you enjoy that sort of speed sensation that Atlanta gives?
“I might be a little more comfortable than some having a car sideways, driving it off the right-rear tire and being loose. Atlanta is certainly a track where you have to do that. You have to dirt track it a little bit. It’s not dirt – don’t get me wrong but it’s a lot closer to what I grew up doing than maybe my teammate Kevin Harvick or someone like Matt Kenseth who came up racing on asphalt short tracks and were able to pull hard on the wheel.”

Do you feel like your dirt background gives you a competitive advantage at Atlanta?
“Atlanta is a slick race track. You have to be able to run the car free. I’m not singling those guys out like they can’t do it because they’ve outrun me at Atlanta before. Harvick got his first win at Atlanta and Kenseth can win anywhere. I just think Atlanta is a place where my background lends itself to being competitive maybe more so than some other race tracks.”

Where do you like to run at Atlanta?
“I’m kind of a catfish. I like to run on the bottom but that’s what’s neat about Atlanta. If it’s not working on the bottom you can move up to the top. I’ve run in the middle, on the bottom and the top. I’ve run all over the place at Atlanta.”