TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Clint Bowyer — Notes & Quotes
Richmond International Raceway – April 25, 2014
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 AAA Insurance Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
How does the new wedding ring feel?
“It’s heavy. It’s forever.”
How was the wedding and honeymoon?
“We did have us a good honeymoon — had a big bonfire at the house the other night. I was burning some brush and I look over and I was like, ‘How’s your honeymoon honey? Pretty good, huh?’ We had so much fun. We went down to the Bahamas with just a little group of family and friends — some of my closest friends and some of hers. They knew we were there, just put it that way. It was a lot of fun. Train wreck is what it would kind of be considered too. It was so funny though, Jay Frye crashed the wedding in his swim trunks and I thought that was the highlight of the night. I thought that if I was him I would have definitely done that and probably that much more. Him and Danielle (Frye) came in straight off the beach and I thought that was hilarious. Steve Letarte (88 crew chief) — I look up and she’s (Lorra Bowyer, wife) got this thing setup, she went down there and figured it all out — so we’re down there by the beach and I look up and Steve Letarte and his whole family — I look up and think that we are pretty close the building and these people are going to be pissed if we get throwing this party down later and I look up and Steve Letarte is up on his balcony taking pictures. I was like, ‘Aw, man, this is super embarrassing.’ We had a lot of fun and it was a big weekend.”
What does it mean to have a new sponsor on your Camry this weekend?
“It’s always awesome to have new sponsors in this sport, more importantly on the side of your race car. Really proud to have AAA on my car, it’s a good race track for us. We’ve landed in victory lane here twice and I think we can do it again. To get a new sponsor in victory lane is always a good thing.”
What is it like coming back to Richmond after the events of last September?
“This is one of my best race tracks. Looking back over the years you always have a track that fits your driving style and you’re confidence level is more for some reason and this has always been the case for me. We’ve run well in the Nationwide Series here, always run well in the Cup Series and I’m always excited to get here. This is a fun racing weekend. The fan base is awesome. Night races are always extra special. I’m looking forward to having another good run here and shaking that off from last year. It was a bad deal and I get it. Like I said, this is one of my favorite race tracks. People all across the country ask you where your favorite tracks are and this is first or second on my list.”
What happened with Kurt Busch at Darlington?
“It was just a bad deal. You never want to wreck anybody. It was quite clear that I got into the back of him and wrecked him. You always feel bad when that happens. It’s a different circumstance if you were having a skirmish with him and hatred or something and usually that’s pretty obvious to everybody. You get down to the end of those things and they are green-white-checkered and there’s two tires, four tires — (Jeff) Gordon was on two and was protecting it pretty hard getting in and I kind of checked up and next thing you know I’m the guy that’s three-wide and I was like, ‘Oh no.’ Then I got a good run off the hill and obviously he (Kurt Busch) was out of room and trying to gather things up and doing the best he could for himself and we just got in the back of him. Not much room over there. There’s only enough room to go about a car width and a half off of two and we were trying to do it three and four-wide and it just doesn’t work out. Obviously felt bad and hated that for him. Glad he was okay — that’s a hard hit. You wreck over there off of two, you hit hard. Just a racing deal at the end of those things — green-white-checkered with everyone on different strategies, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Have you spoke with Kurt Busch following the incident?
“Obviously you reach out to somebody in that circumstance, but you understand the frustration and you put yourself in those shoes — you probably wouldn’t reply back either. It ain’t worth a whole lot.”
Did you apologize to Kurt Busch?
“Obviously it was a bad deal, it wasn’t intentional or anything like that. You owe the person an apology, but it’s understandable.”
Do you believe the Clint Bowyer fan base is still strong?
“I think so. Everybody knows me, I love to have fun in this sport, I appreciate the sport and try to give back every chance I get. The fan base, Twitter and things like that — I took a beating for awhile, but we weathered that storm, it’s behind us and it’s a lot of fun to interact with those fans whether it’s good or bad. It’s all positive interaction as far as I’m concerned because they are talking about our sport.”
Is there any sense of urgency to get a race win again soon?
“I look back at the season so far and it’s been definitely peaks and valleys. Looking at Martinsville, I really thought we let that one get away from us. It was something that was in our control and we just made a mistake and cost us the win. Looking at Texas, we were right there in the running and had a shot at that. Looking back at California, we were running right there second and third with a few laps to go and blew a tire. It’s definitely been that kind of year. You keep knocking on the door, you’re going to bust it open and we’ll get our win — I really do believe that we’re capable of doing that. Our organization — our cars are running fast and Brian (Pattie, crew chief) is doing a good job of bringing fast cars to the race track, and our model has always been consistency and it’s strange when you’re not a part of that consistency right now. Everybody sees that in this sport. You’ll get that shaken off and get things smoothed out and we’ll get our win.”
What do you expect from qualifying at Talladega?
“It’s going to be pretty exciting. A lot of things about Talladega — Russell (Branham, public relations director at Talladega Superspeedway) and Grant (Lynch, chairman at Talladega Superspeedway) have been reaching out to us drivers and really trying to get the party back at Talladega and it’s like I said, ‘Talladega has always been a party, just quit trying to get in the way of it and let it happen this time.’ I think it’s that way on the race track. It’s a wild set of circumstances that happen and qualifying is going to be the first part of that. Trying to strategize and get that run. I don’t think you’re going to be able to go out, even as many cars as Rick (Hendrick) has — I don’t think you’re going to be able to go out with your teammates and slingshot past and help one another get a good lap. I really do think you’re going to have to go out in a pack, a big pack and try to lag back and get that big run and make the most of it. All you are is one little step of somebody moving up and blocking or changing lanes on you and you had that big run and you have to check up then you’ll lose that momentum and then you’ll be knocked out. The biggest thing about Talladega is it really doesn’t matter where you start. Literally, you could start dead last in a good car and lap five be leading it easy.”
Will there be any strategy of trying to block other from good runs during Talladega qualifying?
“Everybody is trying their hardest and more importantly you’re strategizing to set yourself up for the next round of qualifying. Maybe at the end if you went out and blocked somebody or whatever else, but why would you do that. You’re just going to be ridiculed and make yourself look like a fool. Nobody likes a sore loser. You go out and try to do the best you can, try to get your tires cooled off to get yourself setup for the next round. Being cute and doing stuff like that, it will catch up to you just like it always does.”
