Bowyer looking for first Cup win in midst of Chase (cont'd)

But it's a challenge Bowyer has been looking forward to.

"If you asked me last year if I was going to make the Chase this year I would have said I could make the Chase, absolutely," Bowyer said. "We have the right guys, I am with the right organization, we have great equipment, and that's what it takes."

But there is one thing Bowyer has to overcome at RCR, the stigma that his team is the "third" team. Very few drivers have been on the "third" team in any organization and found consistent success. Bowyer wants to prove that at Childress the odds are even.

"Last year I really think we were the third team. I was a rookie. We needed to learn, to progress. Through last year and early this year, I think we grew out of that. If you look at things over the last several weeks we've been running equally well [with the No. 31 and No. 29 cars]."

But late last season, with Harvick and Burton in the Chase, and Bowyer on the outside, Clint admits there was uneasiness, an uncomfortable feeling that he carried into the off-season.

"I watched Harvick and Burton in the Chase and running up front while I was stuck back around 15th. In that type of situation you have to start looking at yourself. You have to have some self-doubt. We're in the same equipment only they're running up front and I'm not. You start thinking you're dropping the ball. If you're struggling and not running where you want to be running, then you look at them and you look around, they're in the top-five, I'm 17th, you start to question yourself. But we have picked up considerably from last year. We have picked up the pace. I believe we're equal with them week in and week out."

"It won't surprise me for him to have more success than any of us," Burton said. "Not only in the future but currently. He and Gil do a great job together. Clint's up on it and we're going to have to deal with Clint for a long time and that's a good thing."

Bowyer likes to talk about being patient, and how hard that is for a driver that wants to win. Now he is still looking for that first win, while racing for the championship, as one of just 12 drivers in the Chase.

"Patience," Bowyer said. "Jeff Burton has been talking to me about the Chase. Stay calm. But it's hard to stay cool and collected when there is all that pressure. But that's what I've got to do."

Bowyer knew he was locked into the Chase coming to get the green flag at the start of the race in Richmond. But it took a calm and familiar voice to bring it all home to him.

"Richard [Childress, car owner] got on the radio coming to the green to congratulate me and that really meant a lot. It was a cool feeling to have somebody that important say that to me. Dale Jarrett came over to me before the race. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to stop or go out of his way to say something to me but he did. He told me he thought I could win the championship. When someone like that says that to you it is really special."

I could hear the goose bumps in Bowyer's voice. He was reliving the moment, and the meaning.

Bowyer doesn't have any special rah-rah speech planned for the Jack Daniel's crew on Sunday. He knows what he'll say, and he knows how important the next 10 weeks will be.

"I usually get on the radio before the green and tell the guys to make sure everybody hits their marks, gives 100 percent -- that completes the package. There is so much work in just getting here. But this is a business, everybody has a job to do and everybody has to do their job."

There's another guy from Emporia, Kan., that knew a little about that. William Allen White, the University of Kansas Journalism School is named for him. Remember the Poetry of the Porch? William Allen White was born in Emporia on February 10th, 1868. He is a man who accomplished so much. At the age of 27 he borrowed $3000 and bought the hometown Emporia Gazette newspaper. His writing drew national attention; he became friends with President Theodore Roosevelt. President Franklin Roosevelt once sent him a telegram informing him he had followed White's advice on a Presidential appointment. President Herbert Hoover once had dinner at the White's house.

In the early 1920's, William Allen White was arrested in a dispute over free speech. Something about a new law that had been passed with the help of the Governor who just happened to be a rival publisher. In July of 1922, Allen wrote about the incident in an editorial titled To an Anxious Friend. The piece won him the Pulitzer Prize. His autobiography was published following his death. That, too, won him a Pulitzer.

Why all this about William Allen White from Emporia? Here is what Life magazine wrote about him:

"He is the small-town boy who made good at home. To the small-town man who envies the glamour of the city, he is living assurance that small-town life may be preferable. To the city man who looks back with nostalgia on a small-town youth, he is a living symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense."

Sound like anyone you know from Emporia?

Clint Bowyer is the small town man racing in a big city world. He knows the goals. He also knows that he could win the championship without winning a race, but that is not how he has it planned.

"I certainly don't want to do it that way. We want to win. The championship is big picture stuff and so much has to go right to win it. But I have dreamed of winning in NASCAR's premier division. I want to be known as a winner."

Whereas in Emporia, Kan., he already is; just call the Mayor.

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer