Around the Track: Watkins Glen

Nextel Cup rookie Clint Bowyer gambled with two tires instead of four on a late pit stop to finish a career-best fourth in his first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The move stopped a backslide in the points as Bowyer, who started on the outside of the front row beside Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton, moved up two spots to 17th.

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Now Bowyer heads to Watkins Glen International for this first Cup race on the road course. In three NASCAR Busch Series road course starts, Bowyer has completed every lap and posted a 12.7 average finish.

In his Nextel Cup road racing debut at Sonoma in June, Bowyer started 28th and finished 16th.

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.

There's been a lot of talk lately about how the rookie driver meetings aren't what they used to be when we had a veteran driver there to lead them, but they're still useful.

When we go to tracks we've never been to with different characteristics it helps to be able to ask about little things such as how to get on the race track and get off in the right places.

There are a lot of safety aspects they go over, such as where to be on the track and going through the garage.

John Darby, NASCAR's series director, leads the meetings now. I don't know if they really need a driver leading them. This rookie class is probably a little different than a lot of rookie classes.

We have quite a bit of experience coming out of the Busch Series on a lot of these tracks. Some of us have even won races on these tracks.

It wouldn't hurt to have a veteran driver, but the main thing is to make sure we don't go out and hurt ourselves because we aren't familiar with the place.

If I need a veteran driver I can go to my teammates, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick. They've both been around the block a time or two and know exactly what to do everywhere we go. I pull off them a lot when I get to the track.

Jeff a lot of times will go over my setups after practice and then come to me with suggestions. Jeff's a good guy, a good teammate. He's always looking out for everybody.

That's a big reason why we're all moving forward together at Richard Childress Racing. He has great insight on a lot of things.

He's helped me a lot, like when I'm struggling entering a corner as I was when I first got to Indy. I was arching it out quite a bit too late like you do at a lot of tracks.

But there, if you arch it too much carrying so much speed in, you've missed the corner and you can't get the car pulled back down on the track.

Clint Bowyer started second for Sunday's Allstate 400.

Inside the Numbers Bowyer's 2006 stats Track St. Fin. Laps Status Daytona 37 6 203 running Fontana 32 14 251 running Las Vegas 20 15 270 running Atlanta 16 27 324 running Bristol 27 29 495 running Martinsville 42 22 496 running Texas 12 19 333 running Phoenix 8 5 312 running Talladega 15 40 16 crash Richmond 20 10 400 running Darlington 3 23 365 running Lowe's 15 19 399 running Dover 22 17 400 running Pocono 42 21 200 running Michigan 9 39 86 running Infineon 28 16 110 running Daytona 30 10 160 running Chicagoland 38 9 270 running Loudon 31 27 307 running Pocono 14 41 194 running Indy 2 4 160 running

Kevin helps me a lot, too. We work as a team. That's another reason RCR is moving forward.

I got my first trip to the NASCAR hauler for a visit with president Mike Helton last weekend. He called Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and myself in to talk about what happened the week before at Pocono when Tony wrecked me and Carl.

It was like a scene out of Days of Thunder. But I wasn't there because of something I necessarily did wrong. I was there for the meeting and the insight. They just let us know they expected us to behave.

It was like being called to the principal's office in high school.

Our goals have changed since Pocono. The Chase for the Nextel Cup is out of the picture, so now the goal is to be in 11th place and earn a trip to the banquet in New York that way.

Hopefully, we started to turn things around at Indianapolis. Watkins Glen is going to be a battle of wills. It's a road course and I'm not the best at them, but if we can get a good top-15 finish we'll be happy and move on to the rest of the season.

We raced the Busch cars there last year. It's quite a bit faster than your typical road course. I just wasn't comfortable with it.

That's a place I can rely on my teammates for a lot information. They've both run well there and know how to get around the track.

Nine times out of 10 they know exactly what you're talking about and have already figured a way around it. Usually, it's not anything you're doing wrong. It's something they've figured out quicker because of the experience of being there.

You bring your friends to the track always. A teammate usually has your best interest in mind.

A guy that you're racing against for position and you're trying to take bread off of his table, I have a hard time believing he's always going to help you 100 percent even if it's in a rookie meeting.