Bowyer's 'sweet emotion' caps weekend celebration (cont'd)

Q: That was interesting. Did you think that was going to happen, because I don't know if you've seen the shot yet but your car just disappears in the smoke?

Bowyer: Well, you know I thought that was what a burnout was all about. There is a lot of smoke.

Q: Oh, you took the burnout thing literally ... you just burnt the engine out.

Bowyer: Yeah, it was funny 'cause then the fire department was out there. I guess the tires caught on fire so you just have fun with it.

Lap-by-Lap

Clint Bowyer started from the pole at NHIS, relinquished the lead at only brief intervals and cruised to his first Nextel Cup victory in the Sylvania 300.

• Lap-by-Lap, click here
• Race Video, click here
• Win provides answers
• Rapid rise from Kansas

Q: Listening to the audio down the stretch, it sounded like you were a bit stressed and on the other side your spotter and crew were completely calm. Have they razzed you about this at all -- the first win jitters coming down the stretch?

Bowyer: Yeah, we were having fun with it. You know unfortunately, you hear my voice on the radio. I told them -- we were laughing about it this morning and I said, 'Don't you lie to me, you were about ready to throw up just like I was,' and they both just laughed.

You know it's our first win. It's a big deal because it's so hard to win these races. You know I've had dominant cars before in the Busch Series and it seems like every time I have a dominant car like that I've never been able to pull off the win. I mean we pull into the pits -- green-flag pit stop at that very same racetrack in the Busch car -- caution comes out, we go a lap down and we lose the race just like that. That fast and I just kept looking for ways to somehow get another one taken from us and, you know, finally everything worked out. The stars lined up and we got our first win.

Q: After the checkered flag I saw several of the top drivers in the sport -- obviously Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick. I saw Jeff Gordon and it looked like Tony Stewart was even trying to pull up behind you to try and congratulate you. Was that almost like a "welcome to the club" type of moment for you?

Bowyer: Yeah, it was. To me that's what it's all about -- having a lot of respect for your peers. These are guys that you've watched your whole career growing up and just the dream of some day getting to race on the same racetrack as these guys let alone to be able to beat the very best and have those guys roll into Victory Lane and congratulate you and say nice things about you -- that is very gratifying.

Q: You've got your first win now and you see this in other sports, the driver or the athlete who gets his first win the floodgates open. Are you hoping for that or perhaps expecting that now that you've got your first win?

Bowyer: I'm darn sure hoping for it. It's very hard to win these races cause everything's got to go perfect. Certainly they always say the first one is hardest to get. I don't know what it is. In my Busch car once I got the first one -- well, you know you're a lot more calm. Obviously, I was very tense going into those last laps as you heard. I was just worried that if a caution came out we were going to have our hands full and you know lapped traffic and things. There is a lot going on and you have a lot of emotion and you're trying to get your first win but certainly everything worked out just fine.

Q: Well, we've got the word Mongolia in but we haven't got the word Aerosmith in. Tell me about the dinner and perhaps what's your favorite Aerosmith song?

Bowyer: Yeah, it's probably Sweet Emotion.

It was very cool. We got an opportunity to go up there and eat dinner at the Bahre residence, who own the track. It was a neat experience, such a beautiful home -- really great people to be with. And to have Steven Tyler there to eat dinner, kind of a casual dinner, hanging out, having fun ... it was an experience. He's a really cool guy.

Q: You're two years into this life as a Nextel Cup driver -- do you get used to meeting people like Steven Tyler? Are you completely comfortable with it?

Bowyer: No way! It was hard for me. I was wanting to be star struck -- I was star struck. At first you don't know how to talk to people like that -- you don't know what to say and then the next thing you know you're an hour and a half into a conversation with the guy and you just find out how normal and as real as anybody else that people really are. I mean it was inspirational. That guy has been there and done that. The man is 59 years old and he's a rock star. I mean everybody wants to be a rock star and he's living that life right out.

Q: It's odd because you have to recognize that now people are star struck when they talk to you as well so you see the other side of that.

Bowyer: Yeah, but I think it's very important to learn from people like Steven and people that are highly successful. It seems like the more successful that they are the more just natural and normal that they and I think that's the big reason that they are as successful as they are because they've never lost track of their roots and where they've came from.

Q: In your best modest Kansas talk, what are your chances of winning the championship this year?

Bowyer: Just as good as everybody else.