Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Clint Bowyer Notes

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

Event/Date: Chevy Rock & Roll 400 – September 8, 2007
Venue: Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va.

NOTES:

This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 212 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series stable. This is a brand new Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS, built from the ground up for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Back in Black … After featuring a DIRECTV paint scheme last week in California, Bowyer’s No. 07 Chevy returns to it traditional black and white Jack Daniel’s look this weekend at Richmond.

Start to Clinch … Bowyer will clinch the Jack Daniel’s racing team’s first ever berth in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup when he takes the green flag in Saturday’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400. The NEXTEL Cup sophomore driver is ninth in points and leads 13th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 166 markers. If Earnhardt Jr. should win the race and lead the most laps, he will earn 195 points. When Bowyer starts the race, guaranteeing him 34 points should he finish last, he will have a five point cushion over Earnhardt Jr. when the checkered flag waves assuring him a spot in NASCAR’s 12-team playoff system. Bowyer in the Loop …

Richmond Report … In three NEXTEL Cup starts at Richmond International Raceway (RIR), Bowyer has a pair of top 10s and hasn’t finished worse than 12th on the three-quarter mile oval. He has finished all 1,200 laps contested over those three races. Bowyer is the most recent NASCAR Busch Series winner at RIR after snatching the checkered flag in May at the Circuit City 250. In five Busch Series starts at “the Action Track,” the Emporia, Kan., native has one win, one top-five and three top-10 finishes.

What a Difference a Year Makes … Over the season’s first 25 races, Bowyer has earned one pole, two top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He has a 15.5 starting average and a 15th-place finishing average. The 28-year-old driver has completed 6,882 of 6,999 total laps contested (98.33 percent) and sits ninth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship point standings. Heading into round two at Richmond last season, Bowyer had a 21.4 starting average, a 20th-place average finish and was 18th in points. He had three top fives and just seven top 10s at this point last year.

Speaking of Stats … Bowyer is the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series’ eighth-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 1.16 spots over the season’s first 25 races and has improved a total of 29 positions over the closing 10 percent of those same races. The Emporia, Kan., native has also logged 3,979 of the 6,999 laps completed this season (56.9 percent) running in the top 15. Bowyer is ranked 13th in NASCAR’s Average Running Position category (15.946) and is also 14th in the Driver Rating category (84.0). 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.

RCR at RIR … Richard Childress is tied for fourth with Robert Yates for car owner victories at Richmond with six – five with Dale Earnhardt and the most recent coming last fall with Kevin Harvick. Additionally, in 98 starts at RIR, RCR boasts 28 top-five and 45 top-10 finishes at the three-quarter mile Virginia oval with nine different drivers including Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Mike Skinner, Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, Jeff Burton and Bowyer. Childress, a former driver on NASCAR’s senior circuit, contributed three of those top 10s from 1976-1978.

Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has yet to record a DNF (did not finish) in 2007. He and 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 38 races.

Carry Me Back to Old Virginia … Three members of Mr. Jack’s Crew hail from the Old Dominion State. Mechanic and rear-tire change for RCR’s No. 29 Busch Series entry Tommy Wallace calls Richmond his hometown. Transporter driver Barry Sheppard was born and still resides in Stuart and pit support specialist Gwen “Rooster” Havens is from Martinsville.

Big Month for Birthdays … September is a big month for Mr. Jack’s Crew with four members of the team celebrating birthdays. Jackman Carey Wimbish will be 26 on September 13. Pit support specialist Wayne Harron celebrates his 34th birthday on September 15. Crew Chief Gil Martin will be 47 on September 17 and Wallace turns 36 the same day.

Double Duty at the Action Track … 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 RIR. The Emerson Radio 250 will be televised live on ESPN2 on Friday, September 7 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying will be televised the same day on ESPN2 beginning at 4 p.m. EDT.

Catch the Action … The Chevy Rock & Roll 400 from Richmond International Raceway will be televised live on ABC on Saturday, September 8 at beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast live on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the final race during NASCAR’s regular season will be televised live on ESPN2 Friday, September 7 at 6 p.m. EDT.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:
How does it feel to know that all you have to do is take the green flag on Saturday night and you’re in the Chase?
“It’s cool. It’s a big deal. That’s what the NEXTEL Cup Series is all about and for RCR to be in pretty good position to have all three cars in the Chase is very gratifying. At the same time, it’s all about winning races and we need to get that done, too.”

You were ninth at Richmond in the spring race but you won the Busch race the night before. Do you think this might be the weekend where you break through and get that elusive first win?
“I think we’ve got a better opportunity this weekend because we’re basically locked into the Chase and we can be a little more aggressive with the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet.”

Do you go for broke to try and get those 10 extra bonus points?
“I guess I can say ‘we’re gonna go for it and we’re out to win this race’ but we’re not really going to change anything. If I was running second with two laps to go and needed to rough someone up to get my first win, I guess that might be an option.”

What is it about Richmond that makes everyone like it so much? You never really hear anyone complain about Richmond.
“It’s the perfect race track. Richmond is the perfect size, it’s a lot of fun from a driver’s standpoint and it puts on a really good show. When it’s a good show for the fans, it’s a fun race. Nobody likes racing single-file and running around by themselves all day long. At Richmond, you’re always in traffic and you’re able to race on the bottom or the top or wherever you can make your car work the best. You can do so many different things at that track to make your car better until you get a chance to change it during a pit stop. That’s what makes it so much fun for a driver.”