NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Bowyer wants to make Kansas extra special with victory tonight
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The past few years, Clint Bowyer showed up at Kansas Speedway twice each NASCAR Cup Series season and dutifully handled every interview request, sponsorship event and promotional opportunity pushed his way.
He grew up in Emporia, just north of Wichita. It’s his home track. So he always felt a sense of obligation, even when he was running at the back of the pack.
The demands on Bowyer’s time have only increased this week in Kansas, now that he’s back at the front. His fruitless one-year stopover with tiny HScott Motorsports has segued into his new full-time ride with Stewart-Haas Racing, and he characterized the change in teams this way: “When I walked out of one building and got into the other one, it was a fun time. Trust me. It was overnight. I woke up one morning as a Stewart-Haas employee.”
The last couple of years were akin to a nightmare.
He was uncompetitive during the final days of Michael Waltrip Racing, then signed on to drive for Harry Scott last season. He wound up leading just three laps, finished in the top 10 three times and never made the top five. His average finish of 23.6 was by far the worst of his career.
“Yeah, last year sucked,” Bowyer said. “It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t fun for anybody, especially me. The good news is the bus picked us up and we jumped on the fun bus clear back in Daytona.”
The dividends of driving for one of the sport’s established multicar teams paid off there, when Bowyer started sixth and had a strong car before crashing out in the season-opening Daytona 500. He has completed every lap since then and led 10 last week at Talladega Superspeedway — the first time he has had Tony Stewart’s old No. 14 in front — before finishing 14th. That was one spot better than the week before at
Richmond International Raceway.
And in March and April, Bowyer put together a four-race stretch in which he finished third, seventh, 11th and second. Heading into tonight’s Go Bowling 400, he’s ninth in the season points standings.
“We are knocking on the door,” he said. “We aren’t knocking enough, but last week we led some laps and showed potential again. It takes the total package. You have to put it together.”
There are inevitable growing pains of working with a new team, though.
Bowyer had to get on the same page with his crew chief, Mike Bugarewicz, not to mention more than a dozen crew members responsible for putting his car together. He had new teammates — Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick — so he had to establish lines of communication with them.
Much of that can be done in the shop. The rest requires time at the track.
“We have a good baseline established, and that is with no notes or nothing to work with,” Bowyer said. “No experience with one another. No communication. We are learning all those things, and you can see it getting better each week.
“Where you get excited is going back to these tracks a second time and having a notebook established and line of communication down where you know what to expect, and you can capitalize and better your position. Some of those races, better would be a win.”
It’s been 159 races since his last one, back in 2012, when Bowyer reached victory lane a career-best three times. He had seven other top-five finishes that year, won more than $5 million for Michael Waltrip Racing and finished second to Brad Keselowski in the series standings.
If he’s on the verge of ending that drought, Kansas would be the ideal place.
Once Bowyer finishes all those interview, sponsorship and promotional commitments, he gets a chance to spend time with friends and family, many of whom make the 100-mile drive every race weekend from his hometown of Emporia. It’s a chance to get back to his roots — Bowyer once raced late models at nearby Lakeside Speedway — and reconnect with the people who helped him along the way.
The only thing missing is his first Cup Series win in Kansas.
“If that was to happen, I probably wouldn’t be in very good shape for Mother’s Day. We would probably have to postpone that to Monday,” he said. “It would be huge to win at home and finally seal the deal after all this time. It would be ultra special.”
Jam hurts qualifying
Ryan Blaney earned his first career pole in Cup Series competition, taking advantage of a traffic jam at inspection that kept 11 cars from getting on the track Friday at Kansas Speedway.
That left only 28 cars eligible to contest the first round of qualifying, where Blaney turned a lap at 189.600 mph. Among those who failed to get through were Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.
Joey Logano will start second in tonight’s race, with Martin Truex Jr. third. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won last Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, will begin fourth, ahead of Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.
Drivers who failed to get through inspection will have to start at the back of the field based on points. NASCAR vice president of competition Scott Miller placed the blame on the teams, saying “it’s fairly disappointing that they can’t present their cars to pass inspection.”
Kyle Busch wins
Kyle Busch won Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, leading 91 laps and finishing first in all three stages on the way to his 47th win in the series.
Busch has 172 total wins in NASCAR’s top three series, with 87 in the Xfinity Series and 38 in the top-tier Cup Series.
Johnny Sauter was second, ahead of John Nemechek, Christopher Bell and rookie Chase Briscoe. Bell led 37 laps, and the only other drivers to lead were Grant Enfinger, who led 14 and wound up 11th, and Ben Rhodes, who led 25 and finished 23rd.