Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Nicorette 300
– March 8, 2008
Venue: Atlanta Motor
Speedway – Hampton, Ga.
Clint Bowyer’s NASCAR
Nationwide Series
Performance History at
Atlanta Motor Speedway
DATE START FINISH LAPS
TOTAL EARNINGS STATUS
COMPLETED LAPS
03/17/07 21 6 195 195 $
19,350 Running
03/18/06 11 14 195 195 $
22,380 Running
03/19/05 5 21 203 203 $
26,505 Running
10/30/04 17 20 205 208 $
16,845 Running
Total Average Average
Laps Total Earnings
Starts Start Finish
Completed Laps
4 13.5 15.3 798 801 $
85,080
NOTES:
This Week’s BB&T
Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor
Speedway … Clint Bowyer will
pilot Chassis No. 073 from
the Richard Childress Racing
(RCR) NASCAR Nationwide
Series (NNS) stable. This is
the same car Bowyer drove to
a ninth-place finish two
races ago at Auto Club
Speedway of Southern
California. Formerly a No.
29 Holiday Inn racer, Jeff
Burton won three races last
fall with this car. Burton
notched victories in
September at Auto Club
Speedway, in October at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway and in
November at Homestead-Miami
Speedway. In four starts
last season, Chassis No. 073
won three times and finished
eighth at Kansas Speedway.
Bowyer in the Loop … o
Atlanta Action … In four NNS
starts at Atlanta Motor
Speedway (AMS), Bowyer has a
sixth-place finish to call a
career-best in Nationwide
Series action at NASCAR’s
fastest track. The Emporia,
Kan., native has finished on
the lead lap in three of his
four starts and has a
respectable 15.3 average
finish at the
lightning-quick 1.54-mile
race course. In NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
competition at the 24-degree
banked speedway, Bowyer
logged back-to-back
sixth-place finishes last
season. In four NSCS races
at AMS, the 28-year-old
driver owns an 18.8 starting
average, a 16th-place
average finish and has
completed 1,301 of the 1,304
total laps contested over
that span.
o Chasing a Championship
… Bowyer scored his first
top-three finish of 2008 in
last weekend’s Sam’s Town
300 at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway. At the same time,
he climbed four spots, from
10th to sixth, in the NNS
driver’s point standings. It
was the second time in two
weeks Bowyer made notable
gains in his run at the
division title. With his
ninth-place finish two races
ago in California he
catapulted 14 positions in
the standings, recovering
from a 24th-place finish in
the season opener three
weeks ago at Daytona
International Speedway. In
two races, Bowyer has
rocketed from 24th to sixth
in points – a head-turning
swing of 18 positions.
o Speaking of Stats …
According to NASCAR’s Loop
Data Statistics, Bowyer has
spent 93 percent of the laps
contested this season
running in the top 15. Of
the 472 laps run during the
division’s first three
races, Bowyer has been in
the top 15 for 439 of those
laps. He is second in the
Average Running Position
category (7.581) and third
in the Driver Rating
category (105.2). The Driver
Rating is a formula that
combines wins, top-15
finishes, average running
position while on the lead
lap, average speed under
green, fastest lap, most
laps led and lead-lap
finishes. The maximum a
driver can earn in each race
is 150 points. The Driver
Rating number is used
pre-race as a prediction
tool and post-race as a
performance evaluator.
Bowyer is also the
division’s fourth-best
Closer – a statistic derived
from the number of positions
improved over the closing 10
percent of each race. Bowyer
has gained an average of two
spots over the season’s
first three races and has
improved a total of six
positions over the closing
10 percent of those same
races.
Give Me Burgundy, White
and Gold … After featuring a
Camping World paint scheme
at the last two races,
Bowyer’s No. 2 machine
returns to its traditional
burgundy, white and gold
BB&T colors this weekend in
Atlanta. RCR Nationwide Cars
in Atlanta … In 18 NNS
starts at AMS, RCR
Nationwide Series cars have
earned two wins (Burton –
’06 & ’07), three top-five
and seven top-10 finishes.
Catch the Cup Race …
Following his duties behind
the wheel of the BB&T Chevy,
Bowyer will turn his
attention to the No. 07
DIRECTV Chevrolet Impala SS
for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools
500. Live coverage of the
fourth race on the 2008
Sprint Cup Series schedule
will take the green flag
Sunday, March 9 beginning at
1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time (EDT). The race will be
televised live on FOX and
broadcast worldwide on the
Performance Racing Network
(PRN) and Sirius Satellite
Radio. Qualifying for the
third race of 2008 for
NASCAR’s senior circuit will
be televised live on SPEED
Friday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time (EST).
PRN and Sirius Satellite
Radio will also carry
qualifying live. Up to Speed
… The Nicorette 300 from
Atlanta Motor Speedway will
be televised live on ESPN2
Saturday, March 8 beginning
at 1:30 p.m. EST. The race
will be broadcast live on
PRN and Sirius Satellite
Radio. Qualifying for the
fourth points-paying race of
the season for NASCAR’s
junior division will be
televised on SPEED the same
day at 9 a.m. EST.
CLINT BOWYER QUOTES
You’ve gotten off to a
pretty good start on the
Nationwide side. You haven’t
gotten a win yet but, other
than that, there’s not a
whole lot to complain about.
“It hasn’t been too bad
but we certainly hoped for a
win by now. The BB&T
Chevrolet ran very well at
Daytona but I made a mistake
and got in the fence and
cost us a top-five finish.
We’ve had the speed and
shown the poise, we just
have to put it all together.
There are a lot of new faces
on this team but once we
start gelling better, I
think we’ll be just fine.”
You finished sixth at
Atlanta last year. It wasn’t
a great run but definitely a
solid one.
“That was last season for
us in a nut shell. We had a
solid year. That’s what we
were. We were solid week in
and week out and that’s what
it takes. If we can build on
what we had last year, even
a little bit, we’re going to
be a threat for this
championship. Atlanta is one
of my favorite race tracks
so hopefully we can pick up
where we left off last year
and even step it up a little
bit.”
What is it about the
number six? You were sixth
in the Nationwide race last
year and sixth in both Cup
races?
“Man, I don’t know.
Hopefully, we can fix that.
Getting into the top five is
the goal. If we can start
running in the top five
consistently, we’re going to
knock on the door for wins.
That’s what we aim to do. We
have to pick it up a little
bit and we’ll be in good
shape.”
CLINT BOWYER 2008 NASCAR
NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE
RESULTS
DATE TRACK START FINISH
LAPS TOTAL EARNINGS STATUS
COMPLETED LAPS
February 16 Daytona 2 25
119 120 $ 44,500 Running
February 23 Fontana 4 9
150 150 $ 26,260 Running
March 1 Las Vegas 8 3 202
202 $ 50,500 Running
TOTAL AVERAGE AVERAGE
LAPS TOTAL EARNINGS POINTS
TOTALS STARTS START
FINISH COMPLETED LAPS
POSITION
3 4.7 12.3 471 472 $
121,310 6
Wins – 0
Poles – 0
Top-Fives – 1
Top-10s – 2
Laps Led – 0
471 OF 472 Laps Completed
– 99.79 Percent