Bowyer finds smooth ride with Stewart
Move to Stewart-Haas has reunited driver with close friend, future team owner
Clint Bowyer is in his happy place. He looks around and sees a racing family and not a vagabond cluster of people who, despite the best intentions, could never make things work.
Bowyer did an apprenticeship of sorts in 2016 at HScott Motorsports, a year-long pit stop as he waited for a far more competitive ride. He already was signed up to replace Tony Stewart in 2017 at Stewart-Haas Racing, and the interim gig was good to keep him in the game.
But not competitively, with a team that just doesn’t have the resources to challenge NASCAR’s handful of super teams. Predictably, Bowyer finished 27th in points.
His move to Stewart-Haas has reunited Bowyer with Stewart. They have been friends for a long while and share an affinity for short-track racing, among other pursuits.
Stewart usually sits on the pit box when Bowyer races. He’s not playing favorites among an elite stable that includes Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch and a struggling tag-along in Danica Patrick.
But it’s a natural fit for Bowyer because the No. 14 was Stewart’s ride. The change has been good for Stewart, too, as he transitions from driver to team owner full-time in 2017.
“It’s everything you were hoping for and dreamed it could be,” Bowyer said while we chatted last week during a promotional event in Daytona Beach for the Coke Zero 400. “He’s good. It really surprised me. Our relationship has always been fun and lighthearted but when he stepped up and put me on that car that meant a lot to me.”
And Bowyer has reciprocated, doing his thing as a 12-year Cup veteran. Although he has yet to win a race this season, he has been strong and steady, currently 10th in points, with two top-5s and five top-10s.
Bowyer, 38, has never won a Cup title and is winless in a Cup car dating to 2012, but he’s the quintessential wheelman, a guy you can always count on to give you a competitive ride no matter the configuration of the track. He finished 17th at Pocono last weekend.
“I think that reality is there,” Bowyer said when asked if reality met expectations. “We’re running exactly how we hoped we would run. We’ve had our chances and are going to have more chances.”
There’s no sugar-coating the down-inthe-dumpster ride of 2016. There was only so much Bowyer could do, and it was never going to be enough.
“The last year-and-a-half has been miserable,” he said during Speedweeks in Daytona. “That isn’t how I want my kid to remember me. He’s two-and-a-half years old now and I want to be able for him to see me in victory lane and for him to be in victory lane and when it’s all said and done, you look over when you’re 50-some years old that there’s a picture of your whole family in victory lane. That’s what I race for.”
It’s an image that sticks with Bowyer every time he goes out for a ride with his competitive team. FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400 LINEUP After Friday qualifying; At Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.; Lap length: (oval, 2 miles) SP NO. DRIVER 1. 42 Kyle Larson 2. 78 Martin Truex Jr. 3. 14 Clint Bowyer 4. 18 Kyle Busch 5. 11 Denny Hamlin 6. 21 Ryan Blaney 7. 22 Joey Logano 8. 1 Jamie McMurray 9. 20 Matt Kenseth 10. 24 Chase Elliott 11. 4 Kevin Harvick 12. 2 Brad Keselowski 13. 48 Jimmie Johnson 14. 77 Erik Jones 15. 41 Kurt Busch 16. 5 Kasey Kahne 17. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 18. 3 Austin Dillon 19. 31 Ryan Newman 20. 19 Daniel Suarez 21. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 22. 95 Michael McDowell 23. 10 Danica Patrick 24. 37 Chris Buescher 25. 47 AJ Allmendinger 26. 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. 27. 6 Trevor Bayne 28. 32 Matt DiBenedetto 29. 38 David Ragan 30. 27 Paul Menard 31. 23 Ryan Sieg 32. 83 Corey LaJoie 33. 72 Cole Whitt 34. 15 Reed Sorenson 35. 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt 36. 34 Landon Cassill 37. 13 Ty Dillon MAKE MPH 202.156 202.117 201.664 201.523 201.337 200.854 200.770 200.742 200.730 200.378 200.206 200.050 200.306 200.178 199.712 199.369 199.225 198.961 198.708 198.533 198.522 198.211 197.775 197.525 197.482 197.401 197.158 196.223 195.780 195.615 193.668 192.472 191.520 190.305 189.999 0.000 0.000