DOVER, Del. – As Clint Bowyer went off hunting this past week he had no idea what was being arranged for him when he arrived in Dover.
So when he go his schedule and saw yoga, many different things popped into his mind. And not one was that for a half hour early Saturday morning he would be given the chance to escape the pressures of race weekend.
He was given the opportunity but didn’t necessarily take it during the 5-hour ENERGY and Living Beyond Breast Cancer event, “Yoga on the Track.” Alongside a yoga instructor, Bowyer was joined for the free session by fans who bought a ticket for Saturday’s Nationwide race.
With Bowyer, it was anything but serious and relaxing. Joking that the yoga put more stress on him than he already had before arriving.
“I can’t ever – focus is a problem and sitting still is a major problem,” he said afterwards. “So, yoga is probably not the sport for me. I, clearly, had a different opinion on what yoga was. This is a serious thing. I don’t know how you get one with yourself.”
He compared it to watching paint dry and grass grow. Or reading a book for four hours. Bowyer can’t sit still for that long; he doesn’t relax, ever, as what you see is what you get. Something confirmed by his girlfriend, Lorra Podsiadlo, who stood to the side and watched Bowyer get through the session with humor. It was all for a good cause.
“This has been something we’ve been working on for a long time, we did this program last year around breast cancer,” Bowyer said about 5-hour ENERGY, who’s also the title sponsor of the NNS race.
“It’s really neat, the new Raspberry flavor and everything that they’re promoting around this time with Living Beyond Breast Cancer. All of our sponsors within our whole community do a great job of giving back and coming up with neat, fun things like this to interact with our fans and share a laugh together. That’s what it’s all about.”
And Bowyer provided many laughs. “I have no idea how in the hell I got into this,” he told the crowd before they started. “We’ll get through it. You know, I do have to drive later. Do limbs fall off after this?”
“Do we have an ambulance close by?” After spotting a paramedic, “But you’re also a Jimmie Johnson fan, but will you please take care of me?” While repeatedly saying throughout the morning, “It’s official, my man card is gone.”
When he was finally done with the yoga session, happy to go get his man card back which he was very concerned about and asked at one point to have something manly written about him, Bowyer seemed glad to talk about racing. He’s 10th in points entering Sunday’s third Chase race, yet still doesn’t believe he’s far enough back to be written off.
“Just got to get back to doing what we’re doing, we certainly haven’t had the last couple of weeks that we’re accustomed to having, especially Chase time. I’ve definitely been more concerned about that than anything,” he said.
“We’re racers, when you go to the racetrack and don’t perform, it’s frustrating. Kind of beat ourselves, made some bad decisions and probably cost us at least, I’d say 15 points in the last two races that I can pinpoint. Should have zigged instead of zagged.”
Bowyer acknowledged he’s a long way behind point leader Matt Kenseth, but noted that he made up about 100 points on Jimmie Johnson during the regular season. He feels it can happen again, but the team needs to get back to running how they were, not how they’ve been the last two weeks. Only then should he be taken out of the equation.
“It’s all about making good decisions in this sport. Everybody has fast race cars, everybody’s capable of getting the job done behind the wheel,” he said. “You’ve got to make better decisions than the next guy and that’s what makes up the difference.”
Bowyer starts the AAA 400 from the 23rd position in his pink Raspberry 5-hour ENERGY benefiting Living Beyond Breast Cancer Toyota.
