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Bowyer upbeat heading to the “wildcard” weekend at Talladega

Photo Credit: Roger Holtsclaw

Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) driver, Clint Bowyer is smiling and upbeat heading into the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Many drivers look past Talladega and hope to just make it through unscathed. The track has been long considered a “wildcard”, due to the unpredictable nature of the racing here.

Talladega is one of only two tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule that utilizes restrictor plates, the other being Daytona. The restrictor plates lead to pack style racing that many drivers do not really care for. The pack racing usually leads to the “big one”, a massive crash that takes out many cars and plays no favorites in the process. There are many different strategies used at the 2.66 mile track. Some drivers try to get to the front and stay there so the big one will be behind them. Others fade to the rear in an attempt to see the big one before they get to it and get involved.

Maybe the best strategy is to treat it as any other race and stay positive. That seems to be Bowyer’s plan. As he spoke to reporters on Friday, Bowyer seemed happy as he joked with media members. Asked about the importance of attitude at Talladega, Bowyer replied, “Absolutely. There’s a lot of guys that come to this track worried, nervous and not scared that they’re going to get hurt I don’t think. It’s scared they’re going to lose points, they’re going to get caught up in a crash and it’s going to cost them and take a month to overcome a bad race.”

Bowyer has been successful at Talladega in the past. In 14 starts he has two wins, four top fives and seven top tens. He finished a strong fifth place in the spring race last year and has an average finish of eighth in the last four races. His MWR teammate Martin Truex crashed out of the spring race in 2012, but finished a respectable 13th in the fall race. Truex has also ran well this season, currently sitting 15th in points with three top ten finishes.

Bowyer’s positive attitude coupled with strong performance this season from MWR creates a recipe that could lead to a successful “wildcard” weekend in the MWR No.15 Peak Toyota Camry.

Jimmie Johnson Foundation Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope Program

Photo Credit: Brad Keppel

The Jimmie Johnson Foundation’s Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope Program will draw two more charities on Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. The Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope program was developed six years ago.  The program gives NASCAR fans and media the opportunity to nominate their favorite charities to be featured on the helmet of the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson.

In addition to being featured on Johnson’s helmet, each charity selected also receives a grant of $10,000 and a Blue Bunny ice cream party from the program’s title sponsor, Blue Bunny Ice Cream.  Since its development, the program has contributed more than $430,000 to 61 different charities.

Six charities have already been chosen for the 2013 program.  The charities selected thus far are Against Abuse, Inc., Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Chelsea’s Hope, Me Fine Foundation, Denver Kids, Inc., and Miracle League of Pensacola.

Fan nominations will be accepted until 5:00 pm ET on Monday, May 6 2013.  Media nominations will be accepted until 5:00 pm ET on Monday, May 20 2013.  Nominations can be submitted at http://jimmiejohnsonfoundation.org.

The 2013 Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope Drawing Schedule is as follows:

Week 1- April 13: Texas Motor Speedway
Week 2- April 21: Kansas Speedway
Week 3- April 27: Richmond International Raceway
Week 4- May 5: Talladega Superspeedway
Week 5- May 11: Darlington Raceway
Week 6- May 26: Charlotte Motor Speedway

The 2013 program will end with Johnson wearing the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope at Michigan International Speedway on August 18th.

Toyota NNS Talladega Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes

TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway – May 3, 2013

7th, ELLIOTT SADLER
10th, JOEY COULTER
13th, JEFF GREEN
14th, ALEX BOWMAN
18th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
21st, BRIAN VICKERS
23rd, ERIC MCCLURE
24th, MIKE BLISS
30th, JOE NEMECHEK
31st, JASON WHITE
32nd, HAL MARTIN
34th, BLAKE KOCH
DNQ, JOHN WES TOWNLEY

ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
How was your qualifying effort?
“Well, I think it’s a great effort by our OneMain Financial Toyota team and we’re best in class with the Toyotas right now, so it shows how much hard work my guys put into this car. We feel really good about it. We had a really fast car at Daytona and we don’t see any difference here this weekend. It’s just all being in the right place at the right time, missing the wrecks as much as you can to be there at the end. I know that the team and the guys put a lot of pride in coming in here and qualifying up front and we’ve seemed to have done that. So, great job to my team to give us a good starting spot, which gives us a great pit selection and sets us up for a really good run on Saturday.”

JOEY COULTER, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 10th
Do you enjoy superspeedway qualifying?

“Superspeedway racing, that’s my favorite type of qualifying because it’s really not about me — it’s about all the hard work guys do back in the shop getting the cars ready and engine builders and everybody. This is kind of their chance to really show what they’ve got. I felt real good about it. Really, really windy down the backstretch — I could feel it trying to move the car around. Can’t thank everybody at Monster Energy, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports enough for this opportunity. It’s going to be a fun weekend.”

What do you expect in the race?

“It’s going to be crazy. Watching the races from the past couple years, there’s a lot of tandem racing, there’s a lot of pack racing, so I think it will be a pretty good mix of both. Should be real exciting.”

JEFF GREEN, No. 10 Gadsden Inn & Suites Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 13th

ALEX BOWMAN, No. 99 SchoolTipLine.com Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Starting Position: 14th
How comfortable do you feel with the draft?

“I’m pretty comfortable with it. We were pretty successful there at Daytona, but I mean it’s Nationwide superspeedway racing and it’s probably going to be another big wreck there towards the end of the race. Got a really good car. All of the guys at RAB Racing built a great car. On paper, it’s better than our Daytona car so it should be pretty good. Cool to have School Tip Line on board and hopefully we’ll get them another top-five finish.”

Do you expect a wreck at the end of all restrictor-plate races?

“We’ll just have to see. I thought we were going to be in front of it coming to the checkered there at Daytona and we ended up in it. If there’s not a wreck hopefully we’re just in the front anyway. It almost seems like every speedway race that you have it. It’s just part of what you’ve got to deal with being in a pack.”

Do you enjoy restrictor-plate racing?

“It’s a lot of fun. I can say that. It’s pretty stressful, but when RAB Racing brings Toyota Camrys like this to the race track it makes my life pretty easy.”

PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 77 Camp Horsin’ Around/Bandit Chippers Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Starting Position: 18th
How was your qualifying effort?

“This number 77 Camp Horsin’ Around Bandit Chippers Camry was I thought good. I thought we had more speed like we did at Daytona, but for some reason we just didn’t have single car speed. But, yesterday in practice we were real happy with it. No matter where we start, I’m not worried. These Joe Gibbs (Racing) motors and these Camrys are pretty good in the draft. We had an excellent race in Daytona. I don’t see any reason we can’t repeat that.”

Did the wind impact qualifying?

“It buffeted us around a lot right there. I don’t know. Maybe that was some of our speed. Maybe the wind picked up. I don’t know. We might have caught a bad break with the wind. Who knows? But in the race with the way the draft is, once you get in the draft and the turbulent air around all of those other cars — 40 cars out there — you don’t notice the wind as much as you do when you’re by yourself.”

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 21st
Do you have a plan for tomorrow’s race?

“I do, but that’s before the green flag. We have a lot of people lined up — mainly our teammate Elliott Sadler. Obviously we have a couple of teammates in the race, but Elliott and I worked together in Daytona and worked together great. We practiced really well together yesterday. The guys did a good job with the Dollar General Toyota. I felt pretty good about it. We made a lengthy little run there to begin and we were happy with it so we parked it. We didn’t get to make a qualifying run — the rain was kind of coming. Now, I would preface all of that by saying that that’s the plan before the green drops. Things can change so fast in this sport, especially here at Talladega. I think we’ve got a great partner to work with, but if something happens to him we’ll have to adjust.”

ERIC MCCLURE, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 23rd

MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Gadsden Inn & Suites Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 24th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 MaddiesPlaceRocks.com Toyota Camry, Nemco Motorsports
Starting Position: 30th

JASON WHITE, No. 24 JW Demolition Toyota Camry
Starting Position: 31st

HAL MARTIN, No. 44 American Yachts Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 32nd

BLAKE KOCH, No. 00 Toyota Camry, SR2 Motorsports
Starting Position: 34th

JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 25 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry, Venturini Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ