Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

USG Sheetrock 400 - Clint Bowyer Notes

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

Event/Date: USG Sheetrock 400 – July 15, 2007
Venue: Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Ill.

NOTES:

This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Chicagoland Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 170 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series stable. This is that same Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Monte Carlos SS Bowyer raced to a sixth-place finish earlier this season at California Speedway. Additionally, Bowyer drove this car in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and was half-a-second faster than the leaders in the late goings until the car got away from him and suffered a 36th-place result. Built new in 2006, Bowyer also raced this No. 07 Chevy to a career-best third-place finish last fall at California. This car also saw action last year at Indianapolis (started second – finished fourth), in August at Michigan (started 29th – finished 33rd), at Kansas (started sixth – finished ninth) in October at Texas (started 14th – finished fifth) and in the 2006 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (started 10th – finished 10th). Since March, the car has been outfitted with a new body and front and rear chassis clips.

Bowyer in the Loop …

Stats Facts … In his only NEXTEL Cup Series start at Chicagoland Speedway, Bowyer started deep in the field and drove all the way to ninth, collecting what was his fifth top-10 finish of his rookie season. He completed all 270 laps and earned just over $110,000. In three NASCAR Busch Series starts at the 1.5-mile suburban Chicago tri-oval, Bowyer has earned a pair of top 10s including a sixth-place effort in the 2005 USG Durock 300.

A Steady Progression … Over the season’s first 18 races, Bowyer has earned one pole, one top-five and nine top-10 finishes. He has a 15.6 starting average and a 15.9 finishing average. The 28-year-old driver has completed 5,213 of 5,329 total laps contested (97.82 percent) and sits 11th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship point standings. Over the first 18 races last season, Bowyer had a 23.1 average start and an 18.9 average finish. He was 18th in points heading into the division’s annual stop at Chicagoland last season.

Speaking of Stats … Bowyer is ranked 14th in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (16.439) and is the sport’s third 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 2.056 spots over the season’s first 18 races and has improved a total of 37 positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races. The Emporia, Kan., native has also logged 2,933 of the 5,329 laps completed this season (55 percent) in the top 15. He is 14th in the Driver Rating category (83.2). 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.

RCR at Chicago … Bowyer’s teammate Kevin Harvick scored back-to-back wins for RCR in the 2001-2002 Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland. Additionally, RCR owns one pole, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 18 starts at the Joliet, Ill., race track.

The Winning Touch … Bowyer’s crew chief Gil Martin guided Harvick to the checkered flag in the 2002 Tropicana 400.

Are you Experienced … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, July 15 from noon – 12:15 p.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 Champion’s Village across from the SPEED stage and will be open on Friday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., on Saturday from 8 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Wide Open in the Windy City … In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevy, Bowyer will also race the No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race. The USG Durock 300 will be televised live on ABC Saturday, July 14 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 20th race on the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series schedule will be televised live on ESPN2 the same day beginning at 11 a.m. EDT.

Up to Speed … The USG Sheetrock 400 from Chicagoland Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, July 15 at 4 p.m. EDT. The race will be televised live on TNT beginning at 2:30 p.m. EDT and broadcast from coast-to-coast on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 19th points-paying race on the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule will be televised live on SPEED Friday, July 13 at 4 p.m. EDT.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:
You started 38th at Chicago last year. You had to do a little digging to get all the way up to ninth.
“Same story, different book. That was the story of our year in 2006 – we’d qualify bad and run good. It just took all day to get there. Chicagoland is a sister track to my home track in Kansas so it’s very important to me, personally, that we run well at Chicago. If we run well at Chicago, that tells me we can go to Kansas and do the same thing.”

Is there anything in particular that you either like or dislike about the race track?
“Chicagoland is very fast. It’s a difficult track to race on because it’s so fast and that’s why, historically, you haven’t seen a whole lot of side-by-side racing at Chicago. It does seem like the groove is getting a little wider so that should create better racing.”

Do you carry a lot of speed through the corner?
“There isn’t a whole lot of variation in RPM between the corners and the straightaway. You let off the throttle a little bit and drag the brakes, just to set the nose, and then you’re right back in the gas wide open.”