Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Dodge Dealers 400 - Clint Bowyer Notes

Clint Bowyer
No. 07 DIRECTV Chevrolet Impala SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Dodge Dealers 400 – September 23, 2007
Venue: Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del.

NOTES:

This Week’s DIRECTV Chevrolet at Dover International Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 192 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR Cup Series stable. Built new for 2007, this is the same car Bowyer raced twice this season at Bristol (Spring - St. 18, Fn. 8; Fall – St. 15, Fn.3), Martinsville (St. 21, Fn. 11) Phoenix (St. 12, Fn. 22), Darlington (St. 1, Fn. 9), Dover (St. 15, Fn. 8) and New Hampshire (St. 20, Fn. 37).

At Least He Won’t Have to Answer That Question Anymore … Bowyer won the Sylvania 300 last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. It was his first victory in 64 NASCAR Cup Series races. The Emporia, Kan., driver won his second pole of the season, led 222 of the race’s 300 laps and beat Jeff Gordon to the checkered flag by nearly six-and-a-half seconds. He became the 18th driver to post victories in all three of NASCAR’s top series (Truck, Busch and Cup) and the fourth driver to notch his first-career Cup Series win this season.

Not Just a First for Clint … Sunday’s win at New Hampshire was also a first for team owner Richard Childress. While it wasn’t the first time a team fielded by Childress won a Cup Series race, it was the first time the No. 07 team (formerly No. 30) visited the Winner’s Circle since RCR began fielding a third team in 2001, 177 races ago. Bowyer in the Loop …

The Dover Report … In three Cup Series starts at the “Monster Mile,” Bowyer has a pair of top-10 finishes. The 28-year old driver has a 17.7 starting average and a solid 11th-place average finish at the high-banked, one-mile concrete oval. He has completed all 1,200 laps over those three races and earned just shy of $300,000. In four NASCAR Busch Series starts at Dover, Bowyer has one win and three top-five finishes.

What a Difference a Year Makes … Over the season’s first 27 races, Bowyer has recorded one win, two poles, three top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. He has a 15.1 starting average and a 14.3 finishing average. He has completed 7,582 of 7,699 total laps contested (98.48 percent) and sits fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings following his win last weekend. Heading into round two at Dover last season, Bowyer had a 21.1 starting average, a 19.9 average finish and was 17th in points. He had three top fives and just seven top 10s at this point last year.

Absolutely Perfect … Bowyer earned a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in the Sylvania 300 last weekend at New Hampshire. It was only the sixth time since the inception of NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics in 2005 that a driver earned a perfect Driver Rating. He logged a 1.6 Average Running Position, led six times for 222 laps, recorded the fastest lap 78 times and spent all 300 laps running in the top 15.

Speaking of Stats … Bowyer is the NASCAR Cup Series’ seventh-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 1.22 spots over the season’s first 27 races and has improved a total of 33 positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races. The Emporia, Kan., native has also logged 4,563 of the 7,699 laps completed this season (59.3 percent) running in the top 15. Bowyer is ranked 13th in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (15.298) and is also 13th in the Driver Rating category (86.8). 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.

Back on Track With DIRECTV … Bowyer’s No. 07 Chevy will feature DIRECTV colors this weekend in Dover. Jack Daniel’s, the team’s customary primary sponsor, will be featured on the car’s lower-rear quarter panels and deck lid.

Don’t Miss a Beat … This weekend, Bowyer’s DIRECTV Chevy will be one of five cars featured on DIRECTV’s HotPass Coverage. With a channel dedicated solely to the DIRECTV Chevy during the Dodge Dealers 400, fans will be able to watch all the action through DIRECTV’s multiple camera angles, real-time car telemetry and listen to in-car audio communication. NASCAR HotPass, only on DIRECTV, features five driver channels including dedicated announcers for each team. The new service, combined with race day telecasts and nascar.com coverage, gives fans the most comprehensive and powerful NASCAR experience possible. Bowyer’s team will be showcased on DIRECTV channel 796. DIRECTV customers can now purchase the remainder of the season for two payments of $24.50 – a savings of $50 off the full season price. More information is available on www.directv.com/hotpass.

RCR at Dover … RCR team owner Richard Childress has earned four wins at Dover International Speedway – three of them coming with Dale Earnhardt and most recently with Jeff Burton last September. Earnhardt won both events at the “Monster Mile” in 1989. The seven-time champion also won the spring race in 1993. Additionally, RCR has earned one pole, 20 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes at the high-banked concrete oval. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, contributed three of those top 10s from 1976-1980.

Testing One, Two, Three, Testing … Bowyer and the No. 07 race team are participating in a Goodyear Tire test September 18-19 at Daytona International Speedway.

Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has yet to record a DNF (did not finish) in 2007. He and teammate Kevin Harvick are the only two drivers in the top 10 in points 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 40 races.

A Little Taste of Lynchburg … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, September 23rd from 10:45 – 11 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 Jack Daniel’s Experience will be located in the display area, outside the turns three and four and will be open on Friday from 9 a.m. – 3p.m., on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and on Sunday from 7 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Up to Speed … Live coverage of the Dodge Dealers 400 from Dover International Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, September 23 at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will be televised on ABC and broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round two of NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs will be televised live on ESPN2 Friday, September 21 at 3 p.m. EDT. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live qualifying updates.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:
Is there a certain attitude you need to be successful at a place like Dover?
“You know, it’s kind of like Bristol. You need that tough attitude all weekend. Not that you don’t anywhere else – you need to be aggressive everywhere. Dover is a tough old race track and you need to climb up on the wheel and get it done. You have to drive hard and drive your butt off the whole race.”

Is the fall race anymore of a challenge than the spring race other than being part of the Chase?
“Obviously, tires play a big role but the spring race and the fall races are pretty much the same. Asphalt tracks will change with the sun and the clouds and between the spring and the fall because of the temperature. Concrete tracks like Dover and Bristol don’t change all that much. I think the cars that were fast in the spring will be fast this weekend. We had a good car in June so I’m looking forward to going back and seeing how we stack up.”

Does concrete suit your driving style?
“Some of my best tracks are concrete. I’ve won at Dover and Nashville and ran really well at Bristol a few times so I really enjoy racing on concrete. I just enjoy Dover. You always enjoy going to a race track where you’ve won. More importantly, it’s just a fun, fast, wide-open race track. You race hard and you have to be up on the wheel. I can’t wait to get there. It’s fast and you need to bring A-Game every lap.”

Do you feel liberated now that you finally broke through into the winner’s column?
“Oh, yeah, there is just so much pressure in this sport no matter what. There is a lot of pressure for qualifying into these races for those guys not in the top 35. There is just so much pressure everywhere. There is no getting around it. As you move forward in this sport and keep getting better and better, there is pressure along with it.”

What’s your mind set going into the next nine races now that you’ve won?
“Well, I just want to sit back and enjoy this first win. We’ve got a legitimate shot at this. Not saying that we didn’t before we won but it just opens your eyes. It opened a lot of people’s eyes and it certainly did for us as well.”