Bowyer out to do more than just protect lead at Atlanta

Bowyer out to do more than just protect lead at Atlanta


By Jim Pedley

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Service

Before getting a job offer over the phone from Richard Childress as he worked at his job in a body shop in his hometown of Emporia , Kan. , Clint Bowyer was a champion at one of the Midwest's top dirt short-tracks.
Bowyer will be back racing under the lights this weekend, and he's hoping that the dirt from his past will resurface and help him nail down a berth in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, which is now just two weeks away.
This Sunday's Cup race is the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And while AMS is neither short nor dirt, Bowyer, who is holding down the 12th and final berth in the Chase, says it sure drives like his old home track of Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City .
"That's exactly what you're doing. You're dirt-tracking at 200 miles per hour around a big racetrack," Bowyer said of racing on the 24-degree banks of the 1.5-mile Atlanta quad-oval. "You have to get up on the wheel to make things happen, but hold onto the car and don't let it get out from underneath you. Most of the time, you're really loose as the back end of the car is trying to come out from underneath you. It happens about every corner on every lap. It doesn't matter what line you're in, either. You could be on the white line or all the way up at the wall. Either way, you're loose all the way around the track."
Constantly loose at 200 mph? It sounds like Sunday night on Labor Day weekend might be a good time to play it safe. Protect the 100-point lead he has over 13th-place Jamie McMurray and 101-point lead he has over 14th-place Mark Martin.
While it might be a good idea for some, it's not for Bowyer.
Bowyer said he is not going out to protect his lead at Atlanta . He's going out to increase it.
"I'm pretty confident we can go to Atlanta and have us a good run and then on to my favorite track in Richmond and be able to back that up," Bowyer said. "I want to be able to put a little bit more pad in it in Atlanta and go into Richmond and not have to worry about it and go after a win.
"That (the regular-season finale at Richmond ) is one of my best opportunities to win a race. I'd like to be in a situation where I don't have to look over my shoulder and be conservative when it comes down to time to gamble."
Bowyer has not yet won a race this season. That means that the way it stands right now, he would be tied for last when the 10-race playoff starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19.
Not a great situation, he said. But not a dire one, either.
"Here recently, we've had to look over our shoulder, and played a little bit (of a cautious) approach to everything," Bowyer said. "But I'm fairly confident that when we get in this Chase, and we're the 12th seed, you don't have anywhere to go but up.
"It's a fun situation to be in because you don't have any pressure. Nobody counts on you to do anything. The year we got in it (2007), we won our first race and ended up third in the points because you're able to make all the gambles you can, take all the chances possible and go for it, you know? That's a fun way to race."
Now, if only there were a real dirt race on the Chase schedule.