TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Clint Bowyer — Notes & Quotes
Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 22, 2014
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Cherry 5-Hour ENERGY for Special Ops Warrior Foundation, Michael Waltrip Racing
Do you enjoy coming back to Charlotte where you earned a win in Oct. 2012?
“I don’t know why since that victory it gave us a boost of confidence and we’ve seemed to run a lot better. This was a terrible track for me — I hated this place. I’m pretty fond of it anymore and my car is pretty fast today. It was fast last weekend as well. I’m looking forward to the 600 — long race and a lot of things have to go right for a long time. There is no way of getting around that. Nonetheless, pretty sporty so far.”
Will a car on the front row on a late-race restart win the 600?
“Unless the two on the front row take each other out in turn one — then it could possibly be won by somebody other than the front row, but yes. If it comes down to 10 laps to go in some sort of deal then somebody up front will win. It’s just the way it is on these really fast race tracks like this. There’s a long road to hoe before you get down to something like that. The guy that’s going to win this race in my opinion is going to be the one that’s good on the long run and can keep their car turning well for quite some time. Everybody knows it’s a long race, you have to get settled in and that’s one of the things that I liked about my race car last week. Didn’t quite take off that first 10 laps, but the next 10 I was coming back up through them — everybody that passed me that first or second lap. Different set of circumstances for this race and that means something. Looking back towards last week that short run and short go and winner-take-all strategy and mentality is not going to prevail in the 600.”
Have you noticed any difference in the racing this season?
“I don’t really see anything different as far as the race goes, it’s that every time they shake things up with the rule package it’s always better. I’ve always been a fan — if I had the NASCAR reins for a day, that’s one thing I would do periodically through the year is make a rule change because it seems to be for at least two months or three months after a rule change you have people that really hit on it, some teams that struggle with it — it just shakes things up — the parody through the field and I think that’s the biggest part of what you’re seeing right now. Teams are starting to catch on. We’ve been to these mile-and-a-half tracks and it’s really starting to tighten back up as it always does.”
Does this race need to continue to be 600 miles long?
“No, there is no reason to have any race that’s this long. It’s a selling feature to have something longer than the rest — the biggest, baddest, longest race of the year — the most grueling. I understand the catch of having one race a year be drastically longer than the others, but that 400-mile race seems to be on these mile-and-a-half tracks a good number.”
Do you feel added pressure knowing Dover is halfway to making the Chase?
“I guess for me right now in the very situation that I’m in, looking back and then looking ahead — it gives me a good feeling that I am only halfway and there’s still halfway to go. The first half certainly isn’t where we’re accustomed to running and hasn’t been near as smooth as we need it to be. The flip side to that is we’re only halfway and we’ve got a long ways to go with a lot of racing.”
Why are Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon so good at Indianapolis?
“They’re in good equipment and they’re really good race car drivers. That’s what it comes down to at Indy. A couple times it came down to some strategy and things like that, but at the end of the day good old fashioned speed is what prevails. No different than when it’s the Indy 500 — nine times out of 10 that group of individuals that have done their homework and bring a faster car than the rest win. It’s a big race track, very aero dependent and it’s a horsepower race track. The fastest car wins there. That’s at the end of the day what makes a difference. I think looking at Indy and even talking about Indy, it’s pretty exciting that we’ve got a fellow racer that’s competing and not only competing, but he’s doing a hell of a job and I think it’s going to be something to watch. I really do believe Kurt (Busch) has an opportunity to pull that off. That would be something that would make all of us in this sport pretty proud.”
How do you setup for the 600 with the daytime start and nighttime end?
“You just have to work on your race car. That’s the only thing you can really control through practice sessions in the daytime and everything else. You can try to forecast what it’s going to do at night, but me being in the seat I’ve got to do my job and make sure it’s handling and it’s got a good balance. Not one way or another, just a good, solid balance and making decent grip in my race car and if you do that it will be good at night too. Certainly, we see it every year — teams that really take off during the day and struggle at night and vice versa. It’s definitely real — something that you have to be conscious of and make sure that you’re keeping up with the race track. If you’re really good during the daytime, you better be looking over your shoulder and be anticipating a challenge ahead.”
What did you work on with the team leading up to the All-Star race weekend?
“Trying to dissect — we’ve been really, really good in clean air and practice sessions. When you’re out there all by yourself we are top of the charts and in the top-five or six in race runs and pretty much every mile-and-a-half track and then we start the race and we’re in traffic and we can’t run anymore. We’re out of control and the car is not making good grip and you can’t drive the thing. Certainly, there’s things there that we were doing that were obviously just shear speed and you get in a racing situation and you don’t have that optimum air on your race car and it’s not handling the way it is — there is definitely validity there and things you need to change. For us, it was more so just a communication thing. Communication is so important and you can’t underestimate that. You can get lackadaisical — especially with our team so when you’ve been together for awhile and you have a lot of fun and it was time to pull the reins back and make sure that we’re taking care of business. Last week we were fast in practice and backed up in that qualifying race, backed up to the All-Star Race and we were definitely a lot better than we’ve been all the way through the day.”
Would you have any desire to run the Indianapolis 500?
“No, I’ve been cutting hay — bailing hay all week long and haven’t really been following Twitter or anything and I did go home, got in bed and I was watching TV and I didn’t even know Kurt (Busch) had wrecked that day and I was like, ‘Holy cow.’ No, that doesn’t look one iota fun at all. That was a hard hit and just from looking at it — those things blow apart and you see us wreck and it kind of flat sides the right side and you’re like, ‘You’ll be okay.’ You see them things blow apart and you’re like, ‘Man, is he even going to get out?’ No, it doesn’t look like fun, but it’s fun to watch.”
Have fans mentioned the Indianapolis 500 and Kurt Busch running both races to you?
“Not really, I haven’t heard that with my interactions so far, but this is a busy week. That’s one thing about this week compared — we do a lot of appearances and things like that, but you don’t have a lot of interaction or a lot of questions and things like that because it’s so hammer down this week. Yes, the fans are paying attention to that and we’re paying attention — everybody in this room and everybody in this garage area is paying attention to it. That’s a big story for us and it’s something that hasn’t been done but a few times and I’ve heard stories when ‘Smoke’ (Tony Stewart) did it awhile back and his tongue was hanging out pretty bad at the end of the day. That’s a tall order to as of anybody and pretty cool to see.”
