As the Race Turns
CORNELIUS, N.C. — This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to the second and final road course of the season at Watkins Glen International.
The 11-turn road course has produced its share of drama on track including exciting finishes and some soap opera-like incidents on track with drivers and even an errant fan who tried to become part of the action.
But Clint Bowyer isn’t looking for any drama this weekend, just a solid finish. Bowyer’s record at The Glen is currently among the best in the sport. In the past two races, he has the third best record among drivers with an average finish of 5.0. He also has the second best average finish at road courses since February 2012 with a 5.2 average finish.
After a top-five finish at Pocono last weekend (4th) that has Bowyer 14th out of a possible 16 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the Emporia, Kan., native would like to have the kind of drama reserved for victory lane, not soap operas.
Why are you good at the road courses?
“I don’t know that I’m that great but I do enjoy them. Sonoma is a little better for me than Watkins Glen but we’ve had some decent finishes the past few years. I’m not really sure why. You’ve really got to have everything go right on the road courses. You can’t make dumb mistakes, dive bomb someone and crash, take yourself out of the race. I think we can get a good finish, we just have to have everything go right and not do something that takes us out of the running for a good finish.”
How important was your finish last weekend?
“We had a good weekend in Pocono. Finally got a finish we deserved. We just need to keep focused on what we need to do and keep getting better in the places we need to get better. A win would be great and that’s what we are trying to get these next few weeks but we need to keep finishing up front first and foremost.”
CHASSIS
Chassis No. 767 serves as the primary chassis for Bowyer at Watkins Glen. This chassis raced at Sonoma in June where Bowyer finished 10th. He raced it to a fifth-place finish at Sonoma and a sixth-place finish at Watkins Glen in 2013. Chassis No. 770 serves as the back-up chassis and has never been raced.
· One top-five and three top-10 finishes in 8 starts
· Completed 721 of 722 laps (99.1%) and has led 1 lap
· Average start 17.2 and average finish 14.2
· No DNFs (did not finish)
· Bowyer has the third best record among drivers at The Glen with an average finish of 5.0. He also has the second best average finish at road courses since February 2012 with a 5.2 average finish.
