Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Clint Bowyer on Indianapolis: 'The bonus points are becoming more and more important...'

Clint Bowyer has fared well at Brickyard with 12.3 average finish
CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 15 RK Motors Charlotte Toyota Camry driver Clint Bowyer heads to Indianapolis for this weekend’s Brickyard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race looking to capture his first win at the historic 2.5 mile track.

The No. 15 team is second in points with a 119 point advantage over 11th place with seven races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup field is set. Bowyer is one of three drivers in the top-10 still chasing his first victory of the 2013 season which would help to secure his Chase future and bonus points for the final 10 races. Bowyer is confident his team, led by crew chief Brian Pattie, will make a trip to victory lane in the near future – hopefully at the Brickyard.

INDIANAPOLIS: “With the group I’m with, led by Brian Pattie, I really believe that we can win anywhere and winning at the Brickyard would be huge. We’ve definitely proven that we can run up front and the consistency has been there, but I definitely see a win for the 15 team right around the corner. Both our teammates have made it to victory lane – there have been a lot of Toyotas in victory lane this year and it’s our time so hopefully we can get that done at Indy and if not we’ll head to the next one and try to do it there.”

THE NEED TO WIN: “The bonus points are becoming more and more important each week. Obviously you don’t want to spot anybody any points, especially guys like Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth rolling into a 10 race stretch for a championship. I’m very proud of where we’re at. The consistency has been great and the chemistry with the No. 15 team has been awesome, but we have to get ourselves some wins. I feel like we can do that. We’ve got some good racetracks coming up, but the main thing is that I really, truly believe that we can compete for a championship with the group we have. Everybody at MWR, my teammates – everybody is really clicking and hitting on all eight cylinders and I think we can hit this baby in stride.”

THE LAST OFF WEEKEND: “It’s not safe to let racers have an off-weekend. We just need to go back to having absolutely no off time at all, because this vacation is way too much work. I have to go back to work to get some time off here. I had my three year old nephew at the lake with me the last week and boy we’ve had so much fun. Chasing him around will wear you out. I’m ready to go back to racing! Indianapolis is up next and I’m ready for it fresh off this off-weekend. It’s one of the biggest races of the year and I can’t wait to get there.”

NOTES:

Bowyer The Broadcaster:
Bowyer joins the SPEED TV broadcast team for the Camping World Truck Series race on Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Bowyer will give commentary from the Hollywood Hotel. The feature race broadcast is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. 
 
Let’s Go Streaking! Bowyer has nine consecutive top-15 finishes and hasn’t finished outside the top-20 since Fontana – a streak of 14 races. The next longest top-20 streak by any other driver is nine by Kevin Harvick. 

Chassis: Primary Chassis No. 777 is new to the MWR fleet. Backup chassis No. 724 has served as a backup all season, but not raced. 

Off Weekend Plans: Bowyer hosted his annual charity golf outing in his hometown of Emporia, Kan. on Saturday, July 20. The sold out event featured golf, dinner, auction and live entertainment. Proceeds from the event benefitted Bowyer’s 79 Fund through the Emporia Community Fund. To date Bowyer’s 79 Fund has contributed more than $1.5 million to his hometown through various efforts. 

BRICKYARD GRAND PRIX: MWR Co-Owner Rob Kauffman and teammate Rui Aguas will race the No. 56 Ferrari 458 for AF-Waltrip in Friday’s three-hour Brickyard Grand Prix. AF-Waltrip is a joint effort by MWR and the Italian AF Corse organization. AF-Waltrip has raced the GT car in sports car races throughout the world including the Rolex 24 in Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Kauffman, Aguas and drivers including Waltrip, Bowyer, Vickers and Travis Pastrana. SPEED-TV will televise the raceFriday at 7:30 p.m.

- Michael Waltrip Racing

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