Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Bank of America 500 - Clint Bowyer Notes

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

Event/Date: Bank of America 500 – October 13, 2007
Venue: Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Concord, N.C.

This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Lowe’s Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 166 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. This is a brand new Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Bowyer and Mr. Jack’s Crew shook down last Wednesday at Nashville Superspeedway.

Bowyer in the Loop …

Another Hurdle to Jump … In three NASCAR Cup Series starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), Bowyer has yet to finish better than 19th. The Emporia, Kan., native has a 21st-place starting average and an unexpected average finish of 24th at the famed 1.5-mile Concord, N.C. quad-oval. In May, Bowyer was collected in a lap 52 multi-car incident but still managed to soldier to a 29th-place result. His lone top 20 at LMS came last season in the Coca-Cola 600.

What a Difference a Year Makes … Over the season’s first 30 races, Bowyer has recorded one win, two poles, four top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. He has a 16.1 starting average and, following his 11th-place run at Talladega last weekend, improved his finishing average to 13.1. He has completed 8,379 of 8,497 total laps contested (98.61 percent) and sits third in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings. Heading into the division’s second stop at LMS last season, Bowyer had a 20.8 starting average, a 19.9 average finish and was 18th in points. He had three top fives and just 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 1.533 spots over the season’s first 30 races and has improved a total of 46 positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races. The Emporia, Kan., native has also logged 4,961 of the 8,497 laps completed this season (58.4 percent) running in the top 15. Bowyer is ranked 12th in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (15.5) and is also 12th in the Driver Rating category (87.1). 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 Charlotte … In 93 starts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), RCR has earned four points-paying victories – all of them coming with Dale Earnhardt. Kevin Harvick also recorded an impressive win at the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge in May to go along with Earnhardt’s three victories at the annual all-star showcase, giving RCR eight total Cup Series checkered flags at LMS. Additionally, RCR boasts 16 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile oval with six different drivers including Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Mike Skinner, Harvick and Jeff Burton. Richard Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, contributed two of those top 10s from 1978-1979.

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 43 races.

Austin Across the Street … On Wednesday, October 10, Austin Dillon, son of RCR’s Vice President of Competition Mike Dillon and grandson of team owner Richard Childress, will compete at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway when the World of Outlaws Late Model Series visits Charlotte for the Jani King Southern Showdown. Dillon notched a win at the four-tenths-mile clay oval in May, capturing the checkered flag in the 25-lap Goodyear Fastrak Late Model Challenge event. Gates open at 5 p.m., hot laps are at 6:45 and heat races are slated to begin at 7:30. Tickets are available in advance for $25 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-455-FANS or online at www.lowesmotorspeedway.com.

Fan Day at RCR … RCR will host a special fan day on Friday, October 12 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. All RCR drivers, including Bowyer, Burton, Harvick, Tim McCreadie and Scott Wimmer, along with team owner Richard Childress will be on hand to sign autographs beginning at 9:30 a.m. In addition to the autograph sessions, there will be museum tours, pit stop ride-a-longs, product discounts, food and live music. Fans should arrive early to get tickets for the autograph sessions and stay all day. Log on to www.rcrracing.com for directions to RCR and more information.

A Little Taste of Lynchburg … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Saturday, October 13 from 4:15 – 4:30 p.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, across the street from the speedway, and will be open on Thursday from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m., on Friday from noon – 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Double Down in the Queen City … In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, Bowyer returns to the seat of the No. 2 BB&T Chevy for this weekend’s Busch Series event at LMS. Live coverage of the Dollar General 300 will take the green flag Friday, October 12 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will be televised live on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 31st race on the 2007 Busch Series calendar is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN2 the same day at 4 p.m. EDT.

Up to Speed … The Bank of America 500 from Lowe’s Motor Speedway will be televised live on ABC Saturday, October 13 beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round five in the Chase for the NASCAR Cup will be televised live on ESPN2 Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. EDT.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
What kind of night did you have at Charlotte during the Coca-Cola 600?
“Charlotte’s not a race track where I’ve been particularly successful. We’ve always run well there – been up front and run in the top 10; we’ve just never finished like we’ve run. We’ve wrecked a lot there and gotten caught up in stuff. In the spring race we got caught up in that wreck. We just have to do better. If we can do what we’ve done everywhere else and improve on our finishes, we’ll be just fine.”

Why do you think a place like Charlotte has been an Achilles heel of sorts for you?
“I think you make a lot of your own luck. Obviously, in the spring race there was nothing anyone could do. The wreck happened and it collected a bunch of us. You go to a place like Talladega and I’ve crashed almost every time I’ve been there. Last weekend was by far the best I’ve ever finished at Talladega. A lot of times, I think you can throw luck out the window and start taking some of the blame yourself. I’ve been watching video and paying attention to the mistakes I’ve made and I’m learning from them.”

Based on how you’re running, your confidence and the team’s confidence, past stats don’t really mean a whole lot.
“The sky is the limit from here on out for the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet. Bottom line is we knew going into this thing we would have to step up our program in a big way and I think we’ve certainly answered that call.”