CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Do you feel pressure to perform at road courses after winning at Sonoma in 2012?
“There’s always pressure in this sport, it doesn’t matter what race you go back to, and especially a race you’ve had success at lately. It’s just a fun weekend. I think that’s the key to success we’ve had with my group and the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota is you just got to take this almost as a vacation. The crew guys get to go out. We don’t have our busses. We’re staying with everybody amongst the people, having fun with everybody and really embracing what Sonoma is all about. Oh, by the way it’s always an awesome race on Sunday as one of the best products we showcase for our fans. Really fun, a short track of a road course is what I really look at this place. Tight technical corners that you have to be patient on this race track. The restarts are completely insane. Everything has to go right. Everybody sees that on these road courses, but you really do have the reigns, you have to make the right decisions out there and if you’ve got a car capable of winning, by all means put it in position to win. If you don’t, you go out there and over charge corners, wheel hop and make a dumb mistake that takes your team out of contention for a good finish. Where we’re at right now, we’re in a position that if you go out here and win, it locks us in to the Chase. The only thing I can do that I can’t afford to do here is get wiped out, crash myself, run off the track, dive-bomb somebody and make a mistake where it really takes you out of contention for a good finish here because I think we’re plenty capable of what we’ve showed to get a good finish. That’s where the focus is. A few hours here of practice and looking forward to getting on the track, banging some gears and having some fun.”
Will strategy play an important part of the first road course qualifying?
“Yeah, that’s one of the cool things about this track. You’ve just got to take it as it comes. You don’t know — nobody knows. It’s who knows. It’s going to be a difficult situation to make sure that you’re courteous to the other drivers. Get your lap in and then get out of the way. That’s the single biggest thing that I think could potentially be a problem here is trying to get back around to where you’re getting off the race track and not messing somebody’s lap up. Certainly would be a bummer to have that happen because everybody knows with your tires you’ve only got a certain amount of tires here. Fall off is a big deal and you’ve got to be able to get that lap in good and if somebody pulls out in front of you it’s definitely going to hurt your lap.”
Do you look at this race as an opportunity for you and other drivers to win and you are in the Chase?
“It is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for a lot of drivers. That’s why it’s a dangerous race. For the Chase and for where we’re at in the points, you’ve got some guys that are back in the points. Guys that you really know you’re not going to be racing for points into the championship, but they could certainly go out and win this race and put themselves into the championship Chase. Dangerous race — it really is. You’ve got to weigh out those options as you go because that set of circumstances changes so many times throughout this race. Strategy and everything else. You’ve just got to see where you’re at and take it as it comes and try to make the best decisions you can and have good speed in your race car, and by all means win this damn race, but cover your back and make sure that you take care of business at the end too to get a good finish no matter what.”
Do you expect other drivers in your situation to be patient during this race?
“No, they don’t. That’s the one thing that you can guarantee yourself is whoever is behind you at the end of the race will not be patient. One of the things — again, going back to all this. Go out there and set your car up to not put yourself in those situations. Be good off of (turn) 10 to where they can’t dive-bomb you into 11. Be good down the hill, up on top of the hill to where they can’t dive-bomb you getting into 7. Those are things that you’ve got to be able to take care of business and set yourself up for and if you’re not good off of those corners you’re going to be battling that there in your mirror all day long.”
What is it like late in to race to hold off competitors for the win as tires are falling off?
“No more than we held off Kurt (Busch) for so long it was one challenge after another for so many laps trying to stay out of the mirror and you get away from him and then you’d slip up and he’d be right back on you. No more than you shook him off then the caution comes out and I remember (Tony) Stewart and him took tires and were fifth in line and I was like, ‘There’s your winner. Somehow I’m going to have to keep him behind me.’ It was — I’ll never forget it — it was hard. The wreck was in (turn) 10 and there was still debris, that’s the crazy thing that’s kind of fun about road courses, by the end of the race, there’s carnage everywhere. There’s oil on the track, there’s stuff everywhere, fenders, usually it’s the same fenders every year, year after year, but nonetheless, there’s stuff you have to dodge and go around and 10 it was still oily and I about slipped off the race track and Tony was smiling and barely got the finish at the end. That’s what’s cool about this place. You have to bob and weave and take it as it comes and focus hard to prepare yourself, like I said all the corners are important here. We all know the ones that are dangerous and you’ve got to be able to make it off the corner before you set yourself up so you don’t have a situation every single lap.”
Are you surprised of the success MWR has had at Sonoma two years in a row?
“I wasn’t surprised. Looking at last year, we were really fast, again just going back to the circumstances, we had a car capable of winning, the way the cautions fell we kept racing up to the lead or second hunting the leaders down and the caution would come out and I’d restart 10th again and have to pass through them and be patient. They’re just so far ahead of you, I wasn’t surprised that Martin (Truex Jr.) won that race. Obviously we had the same setup in and same setup that won. The biggest thing is, that setup — things evolve so much with this new rule package that setup won’t even qualify for this weekend’s race. The very setup that won the last two races just won’t — it won’t compete. So, I do dig that about this sport. You have to be able to keep up with the times and keep pushing forward and figuring out ways to keep forward driving in the cars and then keep turning it. Just have fun.”
How much of the racing contact at road courses is intentional versus accidental?
“They’re all accidental until the end and an accident usually reoccurs and it’s something that’s drug on through the season and you get here and the guy gets loose underneath him. Early in the race, if people get into each other because they were pushing hard, dive-bombed them, got a wheel hop and wrecked a bunch of people, that’s an accident. The consequence for that accident at the end of the race is usually not an accident — it’s very much so on purpose. You usually see the smoke rolling out of the race car before the actual impact at the end of the race, which is kind of fun to watch as long as you’re not one of them — either or.”
What turns at Sonoma are the most important and scariest?
“Well they all do. Make no mistake, I wasn’t saying the track itself wasn’t dangerous to the competitors, I was saying it was dangerous to the points system and the overall outcome of how that shapes up. I think the track is relatively safe. Every time you have long, long straightaways getting into such a tight hairpin corner, there’s got to be a wall, something that keeps you inbounds. There’s a lot of tires down there. I remember when Tony (Stewart) got up on them, he was 10 foot in the air and they came around and was like, ‘What in the — who’d he piss of?’ Then you watch it and can’t wait to get back around — that’s the craziest thing about all of us and you see that you ask immediately, ‘What’d he do? What happened?’ Then you get around and you finally see it on the big screen and you’re watching as you go by. He might have gotten mad that day. Turn 11, that’s what I was talking about — that’s where it was.”
What are you and your team doing to head to Kentucky next weekend and in search of your first win this season?
“Somebody asked me about that earlier. I’ll never forget Kentucky last year. I’ve never been so disgusted at a race track in my life. After practice I was — we were terrible — two seconds off the pace, couldn’t drive it, loose, loose, loose — hated my race car, hated it and it hated me, it was trying to kill me. Then I got out of it and said, ‘Screw it, let’s just quit while we’re ahead and figure this thing out and put our heads together for a package for Sunday,’ and they did. Qualified terrible, we started and that thing took off like gang busters and had good speed and stability and grip — everything you need on a track like that. I was like, ‘Where’d this come from?’ That’s what this sport is all about. It’s a humbling sport. You can be on top of your game and full of confidence and then show up and you’re terrible and then you can put your heads down and go to work and figure it out and get yourself a good finish. Kentucky last year was a great example of that. It’s all about team and those guys around you and I’ve got a good group.”
