TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Clint Bowyer — Notes & Quotes
Auto Club Speedway – March 22, 2013
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Are you looking forward to racing at Auto Club Speedway this weekend?
“It’s always good to go to the race track. This is a fun race track. For as big as it is, it’s always a lot of fun when it widens out on the race — running high, running low and duking and driving. It always seems to race pretty well. For the size of this race track, we all enjoy ourselves pretty well out there. Looking forward to it. Had a strong run last week (at Bristol) and hopefully we can continue this momentum and keep building. This is a good time of the year to get your mojo rolling and get a good points base established so you can roll into the summer months being able to race as hard as you want and take as many chances as you want.”
Do you think new car lends itself to faster or more aggressive racing?
“I don’t know if you can be more aggressive — we are always at 100 percent maximum potential from what I can tell across the board. I believe that I think you’ll see more of the same — it will be faster. I think our speeds will be faster with more aero grip with the new car. I think we’ve seen good things with this new car. After the Daytona 500, since we’ve been on what I call a regular race track, it’s performed well and put on good shows. I was excited about what we saw at Bristol. I thought it was an entertaining race to be in and had some excitement all the way through and had a little fireworks going at the end. It was fun to see at Bristol and I think that same thing will play out here.”
Do you think Toyota can break into victory lane for the first time in the NSCS at Auto Club Speedway?
“I think this is a track that Toyota is going to win at soon. Our speeds are fast with our Toyotas on these big race tracks. A Toyota won at the only mile-and-a-half we’ve had (on the schedule) so far — that speed will carry over, I believe on this race track. There’s several of us that run well here as teams and drivers and our equipment is certainly second to none, so we’ll be just fine.”
How much old data from previous races are you able to use when going to race tracks this year with the new car?
“You know, most of it yes, it overlays and chassis-wise, this car is obviously the same chassis, but your speeds are different, that makes your travels more. There’s just a lot of things that are different that you have to adjust and kind of adapt to and adapt around. I think the teams that are adapting the quickest, beating each other to the punch, are the ones that are prevailing with this new car. I think everyone has had some highs and lows with the new car. Look at the 2 car (Brad Keselowski), he’s just been solid week in and week out with it and never missed a beat from where they left off last year. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been good so far with the new Gen-6 car, I think report card if you can give it a grade here the first four races, I’m telling you it’s pretty good. The first race, obviously nobody knew what was going to happen and I think that’s going to be a work in progress as it is always with whatever car at restrictor plate tracks. Seems like the objective of what the fan wants to see at those particular race tracks changes, so you’re kind of reaching for a moving target at times.”
How do you think the different manufacturers have adjusted to the new car?
“I think it’s good. I think it shows that in NASCAR, the manufactures and everybody did their homework and did a good job preparing these new race cars. You’re seeing all three manufacturers running well, having good speed and sharing success, like it should be. There’s no one manufacturer or one team really separating from the next guy. That’s a good product of racing. I think we’ve worked hard in the Toyota camp — engines are strong and all the things you need for a good race at California to what we’ve done, and we have. I’m looking forward to the race.”
Have you done anything exciting since you’ve been in California?
“Went to Toyota yesterday. We just met all the employees. It’s neat to come out — it’s kind of like an employee day — hundreds and hundreds of employees come down and get autographs and we opened up the Toyota (dealership) store this week. It was a new endeavor for me, so it was neat. I kind of got my colors this week — they handed me a plaque and my official owner’s handbook and stuff like that — it was pretty cool.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing (continued)
Are you glad to no longer be the guy causing fireworks in the series?
“I’m so proud of Denny (Hamlin) and Joey (Logano). They did such a good job. It was great. It’s just good to see that. Emotions are high at a short track and things happen and no different than what happened at Phoenix. It’s entertainment. It’s fun to see people get pissed off and it was — it caught me off guard. I was in the middle of an interview and it’s always weird doing those radio interviews when you can actually hear yourself over the loudspeaker and the stadium, coliseum — whatever you want to call Bristol — you hear yourself talking and about that time I look over and pan across the big screen and there’s a fight unraveling on the big screen and I was like, I just felt the need to take over the announcement of that particular fight or screaming, whatever you want to call it. It was fun there for a minute. I was really wanting to announce the ‘Duke City’, you know, “Here he comes, it was an uppercut ladies and gentleman,’ but it didn’t get that far unfortunately.”
Do you have any off week plans?
“Well, I’ve got to hurry up and make a plan because I’ve already filled up two days just as of today. This morning Ty Norris and Ryan Barry (with Michael Waltrip Racing) have already filled up two days of my off time, so I’m going to come up with — I think I’m just going to Alaska. I’m leaving somewhere. I’m going to be gone. It’s amazing how busy they can get you in a short amount of time.”
Do you feel like Michael Waltrip Racing is still not quite there leading laps?
“That’s the one thing that we’re behind on is leading laps and a win, but if you really look at where we were at last year this time, it’s just a different set of circumstances. I think we’re running exactly the way we did last year. It’s just the expectations of what happened to MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) right there at the end of the year competing for a championship and being right there in the running catapults people into thinking — us included — we need to be out at least second in the points and contending for wins and knocking on the door for that number one spot. It’s just that’s what you expect after the way that the season ended last year, so I just think expectations are a little bit different and they should be.”
Do drivers want their crew members to pull them out of an altercation?
“Can you elaborate on the repercussions of it? Because if you knew that, it would drastically change everything. Once Roy Williams (University of North Carolina basketball head coach) is — I hope he is prepared to lose — to his old team, KU (Kansas University). That’s how ADD works. I’m tired of talking. Let’s talk about basketball now. What is that game? Do you know?”
What are your serious thoughts on fighting?
“Repercussions — that’s the biggest thing. Depends on what they are. That’s why they grab us and pull us out of there. You have so many different people that you have to answer to and you have to do the right thing. But all the while, some way shape or form — like I said, people are here to see that emotion and stuff carry out, so you’re walking a tight rope there.”
