TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Clint Bowyer — Notes & Quotes
Kentucky Speedway – June 27, 2014
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Is Kentucky Speedway a track you look forward to racing?
“I’m really looking forward to getting back here — we ran second here last race. More importantly, hungry for a win. There’s obviously a lot of teams that are hungry for a win, but I do believe we’re finally poised for a win. At this point in the season we’ve finally got our consistency back. We’ve been running way better and more importantly, way better consistently week in and week out. Excited about where we’re at and excited about finally marching forward instead of backwards where we were the first five, six, seven races of the season. Last weekend was a bummer, I think we had a shot at it. We definitely got ourselves in position and just had a flat tire and then got some help out of the way. That’s Sonoma — fortunately for us it happened early enough that we were able to get back out there and at least salvage a decent finish out of it and keep that consistency going. Looking forward to overcoming the obstacles of this race track and that’s getting through the rough parts of the track. If you can bounce through it better than the next guy — all that horsepower and everything that those other guys are enjoying right now — if you can’t put it down to the race track you won’t be able to use it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to overcome that with handling.”
How would you describe the bumps in this race track to a fan?
“It’s probably smoother than any road that you’ve ever been on, but the difference is that the setups in the race cars are so rigid — huge springs and very, very rigid. It feels like these things — you hear the old lumber wagon, you’ve road in a one-ton pick-up with nothing in it or not loaded down and it will bounce you all over the road. It’s kind of like that. It’s definitely very rough, but it’s due in part to the setups that are a big part of that.”
Are you more focused on a race win or a solid point’s position to get into the Chase?
“I wasn’t one of the ones that was saying, ‘It’s all about winning, it’s all about winning.’ Common sense tells you to look at the past history and the math shows you that points are always going to prevail. He who has the most points is always going to win the championship. You’ve always been able to race your way into the Chase and I think it still will today, but right now we need a win. We’re at the point in our program with our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota that we’re desperately in need of a win and we need to throw it all out there and go for it and try to get ourselves a win somewhere. We were definitely in the hunt and after one in Sonoma. We had a lot of confidence going in out there and we had a fast race car and by all means we were chasing a win big time.”
Does it concern you that there aren’t 43 cars here for NSCS qualifying?
“I don’t — for me, it’s more important to have quality cars on the race track week in and week out than a number. I don’t think any set number has anything to do with the product of our racing and this sport of NASCAR. It has to do with the product and being able to put a consistent race-winning competition on that race track for our fans. I think that’s what’s going to make a good race. It’s not any kind of number that you can ever come up with. I’ve seen some of the best races I’ve ever seen with the first and second place guy in races and just out in front of the field putting on a show and I’ve also been at a local dirt track and watched the 10th and 11th place guys beating and banging on each other putting on a show and I know everybody else was. I know it has to do with competition and good racing on the race track. It doesn’t matter if it’s for the lead or for 43rd.”
Are more experienced drivers better at Kentucky?
“I think the experience is because they can set their cars up to handle the rough stuff and they can figure out that it’s not all about this one lap and being fast on the race track, I’ve got to be able to back this up and get some mechanical grip in the race car and be good on lap 15 to 20 or 25. That’s the experience talking. Still in today’s day and age it’s not all about that driver setting that race car up anymore. It’s about the preparation that went into this weekend with the engineers, the simulation and everything that goes into having a good run on any given weekend. That’s where these races are won and lost anymore.”
Is success in this race centered on the race team more than the drivers?
“In these races preparation is everything. Hendrick Motorsports, they’ve won like five in a row and those guys are good race car drivers, but they are in pretty superior equipment — anytime you win five in a row against this kind of competition. It’s the same thing that goes into this weekend, you have to be able to prepare. You know the obstacle and the challenge for this weekend is overcoming the bumps of this race track — that’s what’s going to win this race. If you can do that and prepare yourself better than the next guy, I think this is a race track that can overcome some of that horsepower disadvantage and things that we’ve seen. That always cycles around — everybody has seen their time in the sun and with that program and with the engines. But setups and things like that, this is going to take a little bit different setup than we’ve seen in your typical mile-and-a-half race track.”
What do you think about the team’s positive outlook for this race?
“They probably said that based on the driver’s performance last year at this race. We were I think dead last in practice and started the race miserable and just drove up through them and contended for a win. I don’t know — we tend to struggle here in practice of finding that speed, but as soon as the pace slows down and you get down to racing we can drive up through them and had a night out of it. Looking forward to it — this is a fun race track. It is a challenge to get through those bumps in the corners, but that’s an opportunity. You have to be able to pounce on opportunities right now in the situation we’re in. Daytona is another opportunity. A lot of people go into Daytona right now looking over their shoulders and not worried about the task at hand and just going out there and winning the race — getting yourself in position and that’s been a good track for us so we’re looking forward to that one as well.”
Why did you reference Hendrick Motorsports as ‘superior?’
“Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick split me going down the front straightaway at Michigan and cleared me and raced each other — had a heck of a race getting into (turn) one afterwards. I guess that’s my best way to explain superior. Once I got in the corner I could join the battle again and it was a lot of fun. You have to enjoy that because it always comes full circle and in all fairness to the sport and everything that we do — the engines are something that we all get to enjoy from time to time and right now that Hendrick camp, which there is like 37 of them anymore seem like they are enjoying it quite a bit.”
