Around the Track: Bristol

Success at the bullring often tied to length of driver's fuse

Nextel Cup rookie Clint Bowyer fell three spots to 10th in points after leaving Atlanta Motor Speedway with a 27th-place finish, his first outside the top 15 in NASCAR's premier series.

Now he heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, where he finished 13th and fourth in two Busch Series starts last season.

In Jack Daniel's "Around the Track,'' Bowyer addresses each week's venue as well as his philosophies on racing and life in general around NASCAR.

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They were mispronouncing my name on the radio at Atlanta last week. A lot of people mispronounce my name. I get BOU-yer, BOW-wer, BALL-yer. It's pronounced BOY-yer. In a few years, maybe they'll have it down pat.

They'll call you a lot of names at Bristol. It's a bullring. You've got to race hard, emotions are high and things happen out there that don't happen at other tracks. There's just no room to get out of the way if there's trouble in front of you.

You can control your destiny a little bit, but you can stick your nose pretty easily where it don't belong. We just hope to keep our nose clean and come out of there with a good finish.

It's not easy. I've done a 360-degree spin down the back straightaway where somebody had trouble in front of me, I checked up and got ran into from behind.

That's something you've got to be careful of. You can't check up too much because the guy behind you is up your rear end just like you're close to everybody else.

It's a track where you have to keep your temper in check. You're trying hard out there to pass a guy, and there's little room to pass. You can get upset pretty quickly and dump a guy or be blocking a guy and they dump you. Then you're really mad.

The bottom is the place to be. There can be a car four-tenths of a mile an hour slower than you, but if they're blocking you right you can't get around them. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast you have to put a bumper on them and get them out of the way.

The drivers that keep their emotions in check and stay calm usually have the best day. Usually, you see the guy who gets upset in the infield parked with about half a car left.

You've got to learn how to breathe on that track. The minute you get riled up and get to trying too hard, there's not much time to take a breather. By the time you take a quick breath, it's time to venture into the next corner.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Clint Bowyer's NBS record at Bristol in 2005 Race Start Finish Spring 3 13 Fall 14 4 Average 8.5 8.5

You've got to be patient, but if you're too calm and too patient they're going to bump you up out of the way and you're going to go to the back. Patience can go a long way, but it can be your enemy there.

It can get to the best of them. It's easy to get out of control.

Just to walk in the place, it always reminds me of the coliseum on Gladiator. I could go there and watch a race from the stands.

My first time on the track they told me, "Man, you need to go out there and run some laps, get used to it. You won't breathe. You'll be all tight and get tired pretty quick.''

I go out there and run about 10 laps. I pull in and I hadn't taken a breath it seemed. I was worn out. I couldn't hold one arm in front of the other.

That's the bad thing about not having tests there this year. If I had to go in there having never had a test or driven there, it would be hard.

It's a rhythm track. My teammate Kevin Harvick [he won this race a year ago] has really been good there. You've got to hit your marks each and every corner. If you get out of sync a little bit, usually it takes a lap or two to get it back.

When you catch a car, you've got to catch them and go on. If you get held up behind somebody you lose your run, so you've got to time it where you catch them off the corner and get by.

You've got to watch out for everybody, always keep your eyes ahead. It's real easy to lose concentration. Mentally, it's the toughest track by far.

But it's a fun racetrack, one I wouldn't trade for anything. Every NASCAR fan needs to go to Bristol. They put on a good show.