Clint Bowyer looking to regain winning drive in 2018

CHARLOTTE — Clint Bowyer is four months shy of 39, but is still in the productive age range for NASCAR drivers.

He hasn’t won a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race since 2012, and though he is loath to admit it, the pressure to get back into Victory Lane might be getting to him a bit.

“There’s always that pressure, it’s always on. We’re going to have to be better. But nobody puts that on,” he said Tuesday during at NASCAR Charlotte Motor Speedway. “We’re competitors. I’ve raced since I was five years old. I’ve always wanted to win and once you’ve tasted that, there’s no going back.

“Last year was disappointing. But my disappointment came from lack of consistency.”

Which is what he strives most for. Bowyer just missed making the playoffs in 2017, finishing 18th in his first year with Stewart-Haas Racing, far better than the previous year. But between 2007 and 2015, he made the playoffs six times.

“Consistency has always been my MO. How I was always able to make the playoffs. And to compete for a championship. It was always consistency and being able to knock on the door. And really not having those bad runs. We were spraying it all over the place last year. We’d have good runs and bad runs, and I really look for Stewart-Haas to smooth those things out.”

His learning curve last season was high, mostly because he was seeing something new at every turn with SHR, which made the switch from Chevrolet to Ford in 2017.

“The manufacturing change was the best thing, and you’re going to have growing pains, you’re going to have to learn a whole new everything,” he said.

“From your database to the aero platform (shape of the car body), all that stuff. So to have all that stuff behind us, and have the winter, the off-season, it’s going to be way easier. It was pretty chaotic last year. I think we’ve weathered that storm and we’re ready.”

Unlike some other veteran drivers, however, Bowyer had no problem with NASCAR promoting, or even over-promoting its top young drivers at the expense of older drivers, including Bowman.

“No, I don’t care, they’re good kids and I understand.”