YEAR-BY-YEAR NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RECAP
2006 Finished 17th in series points, in first full NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season. … Started year with impressive sixthplace
finish in Daytona 500. … Was in the series standings’ top 10 for first four weeks of the season. … Got first topfive
finish (fifth) at Phoenix spring race. … Qualified on the outside pole for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.… Also ran full NASCAR Busch Series schedule for RCR, finishing third in the final points.
2005 Finished 69th in series points, having run one race, at Phoenix in April where he started 25th and finished 22nd.
… Amid a runner-up season in the NASCAR Busch Series championship standings, Bowyer and car owner Richard
Childress announced plans in October for a move into NASCAR NEXTEL Cup in 2006.
PREVIOUS RACING HISTORY
Competed full-time in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2004 and ‘05, finishing as series runner-up in ’05. … Raced in
NASCAR Midwest Series in 2003. … Won NASCAR Weekly Series Midwest Region championship in 2002. … Also won
two NASCAR Dodge Weekly track titles in 2002. … Began racing at the age of five; raced motocross for nine years
with more than 200 wins.
NOTEWORTHY
Bowyer caught the eye of legendary car owner Richard Childress following a 2003 ARCA race at Nashville where he
finished second. After that race, Childress tracked down Bowyer, who was a fabrication shop in his hometown of
Emporia, Kan. When told that someone from RCR was on the phone, wanting to talk about hiring him, Bowyer almost
didn’t take the call, thinking that someone was pulling a practical joke. … Bowyer is a huge Elvis Presley fan; one of
his main off-track highlights of 2005 was meeting Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie during the NASCAR Busch Series race
weekend in Memphis. … Bowyer’s favorite sports teams to follow are University of Kansas basketball and the Kansas
City Chiefs.
