Beatin’ and Bangin’ at Bristol
CORNELIUS, N.C. — It’s back to short-track racing at its best as the Sprint Cup Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. The .533-mile concrete oval is infamous for competitors beatin’ and bangin’ for position.
Clint Bowyer has done his share of beatin’ and bangin’ at the short track. Nearly half of his starts resulted in top-10 finishes. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver enjoys the tight confines of Bristol which gets even tighter this weekend with the installation of additional SAFER barriers.
Bowyer and his team will be prepared for the on-track action with their 5-hour ENERGY Toyota. The team recently completed a test at Richmond International Raceway last week and are ready to “beat and bang” their way to a good run at Bristol.
What can we expect at Bristol?
“Everyone always asks me ‘what race should I go to?’ And I always tell them that Bristol is a good place to go see a race. There’s so much going on. It’s not only fun for us but it’s fun for the fans. There’s bound to be someone who loses their mind. It’s hard not to when you are all battling there for position. It’s so tight and someone tries to squeeze through a hole that’s just not quite big enough. It’s bound to get some people all hot and bothered and that usually means it’s entertaining for the fans. There’s usually never a dull moment.”
Are you concerned with the added SAFER barriers at Bristol changing the racing line?
“The neat thing is it’s the same for everybody. I guess I’ll just follow the guy. I won’t be the first one on the race track. If he smokes the wall, I’ll pull it down three feet and not hit the wall. That’s a big topic in our sport right now. We’ve come so far and learned so much in the safety aspects of this sport. It’s unfortunate what happened to Kyle (Busch), but fortunately he lived through that. I’m telling you, that was a hard hit and in all fairness it doesn’t matter if that was SAFER barrier or not – that was a scary crash. There’s no excuse in today’s day and age that we’ve learned those things to put in place. Certainly at Bristol, you think it’s a short track and not near as big of a hit as you can have at Daytona, but it is. All the tracks in NASCAR are working to do all they can do.”
CHASSIS
Primary – No. 815
Atlanta 24th
Back-Up – No. 816
Served as back-up at several races this year
NO. 15 CREW ROSTER
> Brian Pattie
>
> Crew Chief
>
> Terry Spalding
>
> Front Tire Changer
>
> Allen Steele
>
> Front Tire Carrier
>
> Lee Cunningham
>
> Rear Tire Changer
>
> P.J. Briody
>
> Rear Tire Carrier
>
> Brian Chase
>
> Jack Man
>
> Evan Marchal
>
> Gas Man
>
> J.D. Frey
>
> Car Chief
>
> Brett Griffin
>
> Spotter
>
> Dax Gerringer
>
> Race Engineer
>
> Tim O’Brien
>
> Race Engineer
>
> Billy Curwood
>
> Race Engineer
>
> Adam Cooke
>
> Shock Specialist
>
> Travis Stock
>
> Rear Mechanic
>
> Chris Sherwood
>
> Front Mechanic
>
> Kyle Anderson
>
> Interior Mechanic
>
> James Davis
>
> Tire Specialist
>
> Gregg Huls
>
> Engine Tuner
>
> Ray Erwin
>
> Truck Driver
>
> Jeff Shano
>
> Truck Driver
Have you always wanted to know what songs Clint Bowyer would listen to at 200mph if he could?
Watch the video and find out!
AskClint
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BRISTOL STATS
> · Five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 18 starts
>
> · Completed 8,434 of 9,016 laps (93.5%) and led 137 laps
>
> · Two DNFs (did not finish) – March 2011 and 2010
>
> · Average start 19.8 and average finish 16.1
