He’s Done It Before, He Can Do It Again
CORNELIUS, N.C. — The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for this weekend’s 300-lap event. It’s a visit that couldn’t come at a better time for Clint Bowyer.
The Michael Waltrip Racing driver has multiple wins at the mile oval (September 2010 and September 2007). And in July he led 36 laps and had a shot at the win when he restarted third for a green-white-checkered finish. But a competitor ran out of gas in front of him coming to the green, shuffling him back to sixth place at the finish.
Bowyer knows his No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota is capable of winning. He’s done it before. He can do it again at New Hampshire.
“At any kind of short track you’ve got to roll the center of the corner, be able to get into the corner and pull the wheel. If you’re loose in you can’t go anywhere. But if you can get it to roll the center, the corners are so long, you’ve got be able to roll the center and in doing so you may get yourself too loose in, so there’s definitely a balancing act. The key for me is keeping that thing as free as possible. The corners there are not really that much different. Getting into 3 is a little bumpier and you can tend to overdrive it if you aren’t careful. It’s a fun track. We were a top-three car there earlier. I expect we will be again.”
Brian Pattie, Crew Chief No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota
“We had a shot at winning last time we were in New Hampshire. We started inside row and got stuck behind a guy who ran out of gas and got shuffled back. Clint typically runs really well there. Qualifying is obviously very important there and a good strategy.”
CHASSIS
Chassis No. 809 serves as the primary chassis for Bowyer at New Hampshire. This chassis raced at Kansas in May where Bowyer finished 23rd, Pocono in June where he finished 11th as well as Pocono in August where he finished 4th. Chassis No. 795 serves as the back-up chassis and has never been raced but has served as the back up at several races.
NO. 15 CREW ROSTER
Brian Pattie
Crew Chief
Terry Spaulding
Front Tire Changer
Alan Steele
Front Tire Carrier
Lee Cunningham
Rear Tire Changer
PJ Briody
Rear Tire Carrier
Brian Chase
Jack Man
Evan Marchal
Gas Man
Billy Curwood
Car Chief
Chris Sherwood
Interior Mechanic
Brett Griffin
Spotter
Dax Gerringer
Race Engineer
Tim O’Brien
2nd Engineer
Adam Cooke
Shock Specialist
J.D. Frey
Front Mechanic
Travis Stock
Rear Mechanic
Andrew Beason
Tire Specialist
Gregg Huls
Engine Tuner
Chris Valverde
Engine Engineer
Ray Erwin
Truck Driver
Jeff Shano
2nd Truck Driver
NEW HAMPSHIRE STATS
· Two wins (September 2010 and April 2007)
· Four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 17 starts
· Completed 5,064 of 5,075 laps (99.8%) and has led 516 laps
· Average start 13.0 and average finish 14.5
· One DNF (did not finish) – September 2011
