NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SAMSUNG MOBILE 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 9, 2011
FT. WORTH – (April 9, 2011) – Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, had a good weekend at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). After qualifying third, Bowyer brought home a runner-up finish in tonight’s Samsung Mobile 500.
He led five times for a total of 44 laps in the 334-lap race and moved up four positions in the championship point standings to 12th in the order.
Paul Menard, No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, continued to impress with another strong run finishing fifth in the seventh race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. He sits 11th in the standings.
Five-time defending NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet, finished eighth and holds fourth position in the points order.
With a ninth place finish, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, moved up two positions in the point standings to sixth place.
In total, Team Chevy drivers hold eight of the top-12 positions in the Chase point standings.
Ryan Newman, No. 39 US Army Chevrolet, sits seventh in points after his 14th place finish tonight.
Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished 13th and is eighth in the top-12 Chase standings.
Battling handling issues throughout the race that resulted in a 20th place finish, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet now sits in ninth place in the standings.
After great pit strategies gave two-time NSCS champion Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, great track position and the lead for 12 laps, but he came up short of fuel on the last lap to score the 12th finishing position. Stewart now sits 10th in points.
Matt Kenseth (Ford) was the race winner. Carl Edwards (Ford) and Greg Biffle (Ford) complete the top-five finishers.
The next stop for the Series will be the April 17th race at Talladega Superspeedway.
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 2ND
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined in the Samsung Mobile Media Center by tonight’s second place finisher, Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet. Clint, it’s your best career finish at TMS, your third Top 5 finish here, talk about your night.
CLINT BOWYER: It was a good night, a good weekend. Really proud of everybody on this Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet. We’ve come on, we’ve had solid runs and we’re clicking now. That’s what it takes in this sport. You’ve got to be able to get on a momentum swing, get some confidence built back up, and you have to start with that.
Just so proud of everybody for digging in deep, and bringing in good equipment to the racetrack, and you know having great finishes. I got in the lead there, and got away from him once, but I was driver, you know, as hard as I possibly could to stay in front of him, obviously.
I got into the 83 car, and about ruined our night for us. But it was a solid run. It was a run we could be proud of.
Q. Clint, how about that incident with the 83?
CLINT BOWYER: It was big.
Q. It could have been a lot bigger?
CLINT BOWYER: Yeah.
Q. Did you come up on him faster than you thought?
CLINT BOWYER: I had a run. And it was so important to get around those guys as soon as you got to them. They just slowed you down so much. It took me a couple of laps and I slowed down 2.5 tenths. And he was starting to catch me.
I just forced the issue a little too much. Got loose underneath, having got into him, and almost ruined the night. Did you see that? It was dirt tracking it. At its best, in the middle of the straightaway. Not supposed to do that.
Carl Edwards entered the room.
CARL EDWARDS: I didn’t see the straightaway.
CLINT BOWYER: Oh, you didn’t?
CARL EDWARDS: I saw Matt get under there. You did that to me.
CLINT BOWYER: I did?
CARL EDWARDS: Yeah, you got by me.
CLINT BOWYER: I’m sorry.
CARL EDWARDS: You’re not sorry.
Q. Two things real quick. Could you talk about the heat? Some of the guys were talking about how hot it was and needing water early on, what was that like?
CLINT BOWYER: That was one of the hottest times I’ve ever had in the car. It’s early in the season, and those guys are a little reluctant to put all the fans in the car that Carl has in his. And, you know, makes him look like Superman all the time. You know, that’s pretty much what it is.
More than anything, my feet were burning up. There is a lot of stuff they’re doing for weight and everything else. It’s early in the season, and they just figured they don’t need to put it in until it gets hot in the summer. But I’d say my boys will be putting that stuff back in. I think Kevin was hot too, so it’s kind of a common thing with the RCR cars.
Q. What has Kevin’s wins the last couple of weeks done to start a fire for all you guys that didn’t get off to the best of starts with the RCR?
CLINT BOWYER: You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. It’s the set up that we have in our car. We owe a lot to them. They came over to RCR, and had a good package, a good baseline package. We didn’t go down that path for a few weeks. We were out to lunch. We switched over to their stuff, and you know, it’s worked out good for us.
Proud of their race team. It’s been an asset to RCR so far, and we hope to continue it that way.
Q. How did the wind affect you out there especially coming off the backstretch into three and four?
CLINT BOWYER: It was weird. Whatever your car was, it was the handful you had into (Turn) three. If it was tight, it was really tight. If it was loose, it almost pushed you around backwards getting in. So that’s what you thought. It just amplified the problem.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
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