NASCAR Cup

Atlanta: Clint Bowyer preview

* This Weekend's BB&T Chevrolet Impala at Atlanta Motor Speedway ... Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 298 from Richard Childress Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new in 2010, this Chevrolet Impala will be put through its ...

Published: Mar 3, 2010, 5:08 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

* This Weekend's BB&T Chevrolet Impala at Atlanta Motor Speedway ... Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 298 from Richard Childress Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new in 2010, this Chevrolet Impala will be put through its first paces this weekend.

* Bowyer in the ATL ... In eight NSCS starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bowyer boasts four top-10 finishes. His best finish at the 1.54-mile oval is sixth, where he has finished four times. The Emporia, Kan., native has completed all but seven of the 2,609 laps contested, led 54 laps and has a respectable 15.6 average finish.

* New Look ... Bowyer's Chevrolet Impala will sport new colors this weekend when the burgundy, white and gold paint scheme of BB&T adorn the No. 33 for the first of nine events where the Winston-Salem, N.C., corporation will be featured as the primary sponsor. Bowyer will pilot the No. 33 BB&T Chevy in the next three NCS races.

* Starting Out Strong ... In the first three events this season, Bowyer has one top-five and three top-10 finishes. He has a 8.7 average start, a 6.7 average finish and has led 42 laps. Additionally, Bowyer has been running inside the top 15 for 670 of 725 laps contested (92.4 percent), the most amongst his competitors.

* Rearview Mirror ... Bowyer & Co. earned their third consecutive top-10 finish in last weekend's Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy were a mainstay in the top 15 for the majority of 400.5-miler. Crew chief Shane Wilson made the call to stay out under the event's final caution period where the 'Vegas-style' gamble allowed Bowyer to gain five bonus points for leading a lap and take the checkered flag eighth.

* Factory Visit ... Bowyer and the rest of the No. 33 team will visit General Mills' Covington, Ga., facility on Thursday, March 4. The team members will be given a tour of the plant and interact with the factory's employees. The Covington, Ga., facility makes several cereals, including Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, Honey-Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cookie Crisp.

* Testing 1, 2, 3 ... RCR's No. 33 team will participate in the Goodyear tire test at Darlington Raceway on Tuesday, March 9. Bowyer will be available inside Darlington's infield media center to answer questions from the gathered media beginning at 12:15 p.m.

CLINT BOWYER:

What is it with Atlanta for you guys? If you're not finishing sixth, you're finishing 20th or worse.

"(Laughs) We've done well at finishing sixth there. We went on a heck of a run, but Atlanta has been a good track for us. We've run up front , led laps before and had strong showings. But, usually something happens at the end. The last time we were there, it was a disaster."

From looking at the statistics, guys who have dirt track experience seem to run well at Atlanta. Why is that?

"Because, that's what you're doing. You're dirt tracking at 200 miles per hour at a big race track. You have to get up on the wheel to make things happen, but hold onto the car and don't let it get out from underneath you. Most of the time, you're really loose as the back end of the car is trying to come out from underneath you. It happens about every corner on every lap. It doesn't matter what line you're in, you could be on the white line or all the way up at the wall. Either way, you're loose all the way around the track. In order to be good on the long run, you have to be really loose on the start of it."

Last year, the race was dominated by Kurt Busch. At this level, with how close these cars are competitively, are you surprised when anybody dominates a race?

"It does. Usually, at a place like Atlanta, Kurt (Busch) was able to run on the outside line, where no one else could. That's what you have to do and what you see when a driver dominates a race like that. You have to be able to run where no one else can and it makes passing easy. When you can run the outside, you keep the momentum up, and that's so important with this car. They were able to do that and it was just their day to dominate and win."

Do you have a favorite racer movie?

"Stroker Ace was a good one. I like Six Pack, too. Who doesn't like Brewster Baker in Six Pack? That was a great one."

-source: rcr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Atlanta: JTG Racing/Ambrose preview

Next article Atlanta: Kasey Kahne preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zara launches new Ayrton Senna clothing collection inspired by F1 legend

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

Zara launches new Ayrton Senna clothing collection inspired by F1 legend

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

40 min

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts