Bowyer finally finds a smooth ride
Alliance with Stewart boost for veteran
On auto racing
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 thingswork.
Bowyer did an apprenticeship of sorts in 2016 at HScottMotorsports, 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 gigwas good to keep him in the game.
But not in the game competitively. The team just doesn’t have the resources to challenge NASCAR’s handful of super teams. Predictably, Bowyer finished 27th in points.
Hismove to StewartHaas 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 with an elite stable that includesKevin Harvick andKurt Busch and a strugglingDanica Patrick.
But it’s a natural fit for Bowyer because theNo. 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 youwere hoping for and dreamed it could be,” Bowyer said. “He’s good. It surprisedme. 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, 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 on Sunday.
“I think that reality is there,” Bowyer said when asked if reality met expectations.“We’re running exactly howwe hopedwe would run. We’ve had our chances and are going to have more chances.”
There’s no sugarcoating the down-in-the-dumpster ride of 2016. Therewas only so much Bowyer could do, and itwas never going to be enough.
“The last year and a half has been miserable,” he said during Speedweeks in Daytona. “That isn’t howI wantmy kid to remember me. He’s 2 years old now, and Iwant 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.
Generation Next: Pixar’s “Cars 3,” which opens in theaters nationwide Friday, shouldn’t hurtNASCAR’s push for GenerationNext fans.
BubbaWallace, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez are among the voices behind the animated characters. That is very new-school and inclusive. Check out the Pixar bio forWallace’s character:
“Next-gen stock-car racer Bubba Wheelhouse Jr. is a fast and tenacious young racer who knows howto win. A champion for diversity, Wheelhouse believes that all race cars deserve a chance on the track.”
There’s also something in it for the old-school types. Darrell Cartrip, a veteran Piston-Cup announcer, is voiced by NASCARHall of Famer DarrellWaltrip.
“For the first ‘Cars,’ we didn’t havemuch of a (formal) relationship with (NASCAR),” JayWard, Pixar’s creative director, said in a recent interview. “Theywere much more receptive this time.”