Around the Track: Daytona

Bowyer takes a look at the Cup scene from a rookie's standpoint

Speedweeks, including the black art of drafting at Daytona International Speedway, can be a daunting prospect for a veteran NASCAR competitor.

So what does Clint Bowyer think about the outlook when, after less than two full seasons in the Busch Series he embarks this weekend on a real racer's ultimate adventure: Competing full time in the top two levels of NASCAR?

This season, in Jack Daniel's Around the Track, Bowyer will address each week's venue as well as his philosophies on racing and life in general around NASCAR.

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Clint Bowyer: When I first came through the tunnel into Daytona International Speedway, you're instantly aware of the entire mystique and the history surrounding the place.

But for me, it was the track I had been working my whole life, to get to.

There is something about Daytona that just spells out, 'NASCAR.' It always has, and it probably always will.

It's not one of my favorite racetracks, but there is no getting around it: Daytona just speaks the language of NASCAR and every time you come here, there's just something about this track, that it's really, really cool.

Growing up in the Midwest, on dirt tracks and things like that, a half-mile is the biggest track you're ever going to get on -- and that was the biggest track I'd ever seen.

So in 2003, I remember coming down here for Speedweeks with my dirt car, and driving over here for the first time and seeing this racetrack -- just this massive structure of a racetrack.

I'll never forget, because it was nighttime and all the strobe lights were going off on the back of the grandstands. To me then, and even today, it was just an incredible racetrack and, like I say, it's what NASCAR is all about.

To even drive by this track was real special to me, and the first time I pulled into that tunnel it was incredible.

When I actually came down here for the first time, it was for an ARCA Re/Max Series test. It was the day after Richard Childress Racing's company Christmas party, and I came through the tunnel and there were just these huge fields stretching across the infield.

I couldn't help but think, 'What could they possibly do inside of here,' and, 'How could they fill this place up?'

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But man, when I came back during Speedweeks and saw the infield filled up and all the people in the stands, it was just unbelievable to me how many people they could get inside here and it definitely was like going to the circus for the first time, when you're a kid -- just amazing.

I haven't got to the point yet, as far as fan interaction, where I feel like I know every one of them, but it's a lot of fun. I think a lot of that depends on your personality.

I see a lot of veteran drivers that maybe are kind of tired of interacting with the fans, and things like that -- but I remember, it wasn't two years ago that I was in line, getting those autographs, and I'll never forget that.

I think that this is a fan-driven sport, and I think it always will be and you've got to take care of your people that root you on, each and every week.

Since I'm running in both the Nextel Cup and the Busch series this season, at every racetrack there will be a lot of running back and forth between garage areas, so you might wonder how I'd relax.

Just getting in that race car -- whether it's my Jack Daniel's Chevrolet on the Nextel Cup side or the ACDelco Monte Carlo in Busch -- means I'm just getting into my own comfort zone.

That's something I've done since I was 4 years old, is race; so when you're caught up in that competitive nature of racing, you don't have time to think about those distractions, or you might not even see those distractions.

	CAREY WIMBISH Clint Bowyer isn't the only rookie on the No. 07 Chevrolet in 2006. Meet jackman Carey Wimbish.  •   Complete story, click here

You are just so focused on what you're doing, the distractions are a minimum, and that's one good thing about having my Busch Series ride again, full time, and running both series.

I'm going to be so busy and so caught up in what I'm doing at the racetrack that I really won't have time to focus on the distractions and I know I won't let them bother me.

When you talk about driving around Daytona, needless to say, doing single-car runs in qualifying mode might be relatively simple, but it becomes a whole different animal when you're out in a group of cars.

I'm still fairly fresh when it comes to this drafting thing and I'm still lacking a lot of experience, so I learn every time I get out on that racetrack -- and that's any racetrack, but especially these superspeedways.

I haven't got them quite figured out, but the best thing I have going for me is that Richard Childress has always had really good superspeedway cars at RCR, and that helps a lot, especially when you're a rookie.

To come into this thing with a fast hot rod, for a rookie, means that people want to help you and wanting to run with you. That's something that I've learned really quickly and it's helped move me along fairly quickly, and that's having a good car that people want to run with.

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It helps with everything, because you see guys that have mediocre equipment and nobody will work with them when they come into this thing. That makes it hard on them, and you can see it out there.

As we come into this season, I'm just really excited about everything at RCR. We've got three good crew chiefs that are all working well together as one unit, and we have three good drivers who are all willing to work with one another.

I think that might be something that RCR has lacked on the Cup side and it's something I'm really looking forward to using, and having those resources to bounce ideas off my teammates.

Kevin Harvick has been a pretty good friend of mine and he's steered me in the right direction a lot of times. I think it wasn't too long ago that he was going through the same things I am now.

He definitely had to learn things the hard way and he's pointed me in the right direction so I didn't have to do the same things he did. He's been a big help.

And Jeff Burton has, too. Again, he's got a lot of experience and a lot of talent that you can pull from and bounce things off of, and I think it's really going to be helpful to me, being a rookie, to have guys like that around me.

We've got a unique situation going on in Nextel Cup this season, in that all of the guys running for Raybestos Rookie of the Year competed full time last season in the Busch Series.

I think that will be fun, but there's also a sense of comfort in knowing that those guys that you are racing against for the rookie title, is realistically what you need to be doing all year.

Those guys that I raced against all year, last year, are guys that I'm comfortable racing against. Now, obviously, there's another race going on, on that racetrack at the same time, for the win.

And you're racing against a lot of other guys with 10-plus years experience, so those guys are definitely going to be hard to beat.

But as far as the rookie of the year honors that all of us are gunning for, it's going to be fun to race against all the same guys, week in and week out, that I raced against last year.