Clint Bowyer believes team has ‘exceeded all expectations’

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July 12, 2012

[media-credit name=”Brian Douglas” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]Halfway through the first season with his new Michael Waltrip Racing team, Clint Bowyer admits that he had some hesitancy in signing with them.

Leaving Richard Childress Racing, the only home he’d ever known, and moving on from the owner who had discovered him, Bowyer wasn’t sure that MWR could make him a winner. After all, MWR had only two career wins under their belt prior to 2012 and had never placed a driver in the Chase.

Bowyer on the other hand was becoming quite the frequenter to Victory Lane and had contended for the championship. But MWR showed Bowyer that big things were coming, they had a plan in place to get better and that the company’s hard work was going to begin paying off.

When Scott Miller left RCR and headed to MWR that was the swaying point for Bowyer, he followed suit. Now the No. 15 5-Hour ENERGY Toyota is a legitimate contender every weekend. Further solidified by a surprising win, simply because it came on a road course, in Sonoma.

The win, according to Bowyer, did wonders for the shop. And it was a long time coming, too.

“Their first win in a long time. They’ve made a huge investment and commitment to this sport, especially in the last year,” said Bowyer on Tuesday after Daytona. “They’ve brought on two new drivers. They’ve expanded in a situation that most teams are pulling back. They’ve spent more dollars and expanded, made a big commitment.

“So to see that pay off for them was very, very gratifying. For me, going to a new team with so many unknowns and concerns, to get all that put to bed early in the season and run well and to get that win was just huge. That’s being said, as a racer, crashing last weekend in Daytona, had a poor finish, fell back a couple of spots in the points, and now I’m back on the worry train again. It’s just the way racing is. It’s a very humbling sport.”

Bowyer sits 10th in points heading into New Hampshire. He’s a two-time winner at the magic mile and racing there gives him plenty of confidence. Good thing, since the last two weeks have been far from the success he and his team experienced the first half of the season.

He’s hoping that Sunday will be a step back in the right direction toward making the Chase. Maybe he’ll even win again, something that would be huge.

“Usually I win later in the year,” said Bowyer. “So to have that victory early, relatively early in the season for me was cool, really fun, and it changes expectations. Now I feel like we can make this Chase. I feel like we can compete in this Chase and be a top 5 team within the Chase.

“I think as competitive as this sport is right now, if you’re a top 5 team you’re going to have a shot at a championship.”

Expectations are a big thing for both Bowyer and MWR. This isn’t a company or team who were predicted to win many races or make the Chase. Now Bowyer and teammate Martin Truex sit inside the top 10 in points. Mark Martin and Brian Vickers, running a limited schedule with MWR, have also contended for wins.

“I think we’ve exceeded all expectations,” Bowyer said. “That’s MWR across the board. That’s not because I didn’t think that they were capable or anything else. But it’s off the simple facts that they’ve never produced these kind of results before.”

There’s still another half of the season to go, but Bowyer’s sitting pretty. Not bad for a team that almost didn’t make this far. Or a driver who had no idea what was going to happen to him this time one year ago.

“Very proud and excited to be a part of it. This is a new chapter in my book so to make it a good one here so far this season has been gratifying and a lot of fun.”

NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: A TAIL GATE PARTY IN IOWA

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SM Staff

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July 12, 2012

[media-credit name=”Kyle Ocker” align=”alignright” width=”243″][/media-credit]The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be bringing their high energy tail gate party to the beautiful Iowa Speedway for Saturday night’s running of the American Ethanol 200. This is race number nine on their schedule and promises to be one of their better events of the season on the Iowa Speedway’s very challenging 7/8ths of a mile oval.

THE STORY BREAKDOWN

The big storyline to Saturday night’s race is the skin tight championship points battle between the top four drivers in the standings. Timothy Peters, from Red Horse Racing, currently leads those standings. He will be looking to improve his Iowa stats because the track has not been that kind to him in the past. He has an eighth place finish there in 2009, a 21st place finish in 2010 and he finished 11th in last year’s event.

Peters will have to look out his front windshield to rectify those numbers but, at the same time, he will have to keep a close eye in his rear view mirror for the presence of Justin Lofton and Ty Dillon who are only four points behind him in the standings. Also very much in the series’ championship profile is Texas driver James Buescher, fourth in the standings and only nine points away, who is the series’ only two time winner this year.

Ty Dillon will be making his first truck series start at Iowa Saturday night but he won’t be racing on the track for the first time. In fact, he has quite a few miles logged there. Dillon won the ARCA Racing Series event there last year and, also last year, he finished second in a combined NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West Series race.

It’s sad to note that series rookie driver Max Gresham and Joe Denette Motorsports have decided to part company after only eight races. This appears to be a simple case of numbers. The numbers associated with the cost of doing business versus the driver performance numbers simply were not close enough to continue the relationship. Gresham, in eight starts, was 20th in the points, 23d in the owner’s points and had an average finish ratio of 23.8. He’s regarded as being a truly talented young driver and here’s hoping he finds a new ride in NASCAR’s national touring arena soon.

THE RACE BREAKDOWN

The American Ethanol 200 is 200 laps/175 miles around the Iowa Speedway’s 0.875 mile oval.

The race has 39 entries vying for the 36 starting positions. 13 of these entries are on the go or go home list meaning they are not guaranteed a starting berth because they are currently outside of the series’ top 25 in owner’s points.

Matt Crafton is the defending race champion. Previous editions of this race has been highly competitive in nature. Three races has resulted in three different winners and three different second place finishers.

The Iowa Speedway has been described as being a short track with a super speedway feel to it. It’s located in Newton-Iowa, 30 miles east of Des Moines and is owned and operated by the U.S. Motorsport Corporation. The track was designed by former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, turned television racing broadcaster, Rusty Wallace. The speedway currently has regular grandstand seating for 30,000.

The American Ethanol 200 will be broadcast live by SPEED beginning at 8 pm eastern time.

BMS OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE MORE CHOICES FOR RACE FANS’ TRIP IN AUGUST

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SM Archive

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July 12, 2012

The nature and impact of Ryan Hunter-Reay’s winning streak

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SM Staff

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July 12, 2012

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: AP/Jeffrey Phelps/indycar.com” align=”alignright” width=”195″][/media-credit]On July 8, Ryan Hunter-Reay won his third IZOD IndyCar series race in a row. The remarkable accomplishment hasn’t been done by an American in any major open wheel series since AJ Allmendinger attained the feat during the 2006 Champ Car season. Sure, all we have to do is look back to Will Power earlier in the 2012 season to find the last time someone has won three in a row. But that was for the powerhouse of Penske Racing and on road courses where Will has been exceptional for years. With all due respect to Will, RHR’s streak sparks many talking points for those amongst the racing community.

The long tenured team of Andretti Autosport (back then, Andretti Green Racing) hasn’t accumulated three victories in a row since Dan Wheldon won at St. Petersburg, Motegi, and Indianapolis in 2005. With his 3 victories this season, RHR has plunged himself into championship contention currently leading the standings by 34 points over Will Power. If the #28 DHL/Sundrop team were to bring home the championship this season it would be Andretti Autosport’s first since Dario Franchitti’s title in 2007.

The notable impact this streak may have on the season is this is the first time in years that the premier American open wheel racing series has seen an American driver with a legitimate shot to win the championship since 2006 saw Sam Hornish Jr. beat out Dan Wheldon in a tie breaker.

Critics should be hesitant when thinking of dismissing RHR’s run as just another swing of momentum for the racer. Hunter-Reay pushed his way through to finish P1 in all three of the outings and was never a favorite to win any event. These three victories came on a combination of two ovals and one street circuit. On June 16th in Milwaukee, Hunter-Reay started second behind Chip Ganassi’s #10 entry of Dario Franchitti. With Franchitti leading the early laps of the race and Helio Castroneves assuming the lead for 50 laps shortly after, RHR soared through the field to take the lead and never look back.

In the Iowa Corn Indy 250, Ryan was posed with a much bigger challenge. Castroneves was the car to beat throughout the first half of the race leading twice for a total of 133 laps. As the race drew on, new opponents presented themselves, Scott Dixon put himself in a clear shot to win by leading 76 laps during the closing half of the race and Marco Andretti (Iowa’s 2011 winner) challenged Hunter-Reay all the way to the final green flag laps of the race.

Honda Indy Toronto provided the IZOD IndyCar series with a return to the road and street courses on the calendar. Coming off two wins, RHR was looking strong and keen on continuing his success. With a weekend full of rain and limited practice, Hunter-Reay qualified 6th behind street course heavy hitters Franchitti, Power, Wilson, Bourdais, and Dixon. Per usual, Power dominated the race early on, but an unlucky caution on lap 24 caught him out early and spoiled the rest of his race. By pitting before the first caution flag flew, RHR leaped forward a few spots towards the front. As the race drew on, the pace of RHR’s car stayed consistent and enabled him to acquire the lead. By fending off passing attempts from Charlie Kimball and Mike Conway due to late race cautions, Hunter-Reay found himself in victory lane for the third time in a row.

At the end of the day, Ryan Hunter-Reay’s impressive streak of victories proves to be astonishing. This season has now seen an American winning three races consecutively in an American racing series and vying for a championship for the first time since 2006. The winning streak that RHR has amazed us with may soon be etched in the history books as one of the components that contributed to the success of America’s latest open wheel star.