Bowyer's 'sweet emotion' caps weekend celebration

Imagine if you will, one of the most influential men in all of NASCAR breathlessly huffing his way up to the apex of a freezing misty mountain halfway around the world, satellite phone dutifully in tow. He's in a landlocked country tucked neatly between China and the former Soviet Union and he's just got to get to the peak of this mountain.

In roughly 40 years of involvement in NASCAR, I believe it's fair to say that Richard Childress has been to the mountaintop more than once, but his Monday morning (East Coast time, God knows when it was for Richard) jaunt in the far reaches of Asia was unlike anything he's done before. What could motivate the mastermind of RCR on such an improbable journey? Let's just say that the answer intriguingly rests somewhere between a shot of Jack Daniel's, a dinner conversation with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, and the nervous tension of a Nextel Cup driver hanging on for dear life during his first win.

Beau Estes co-hosts the Jack Daniel's Post-Race Show with Nikki Alexander. It can be seen following every Nextel Cup race live on NASCAR.COM.

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It's for reasons like the above that I try to stay in close contact with Clint Bowyer. Even before he won his first race, the man always knew how to spin a good yarn.

Q: What did you do Sunday night? How did you celebrate?

Bowyer: I got back home and had some friends that surprised me at the house and had a lot of fun with my good friend Jack Daniel's. Once we got back to the house we did it up good.

Q: You didn't expect your friends at your house?

Bowyer: No. It was funny. My gate was all decorated up and when we went through the door of my house and there was about 20 or 30 of my friends there to help me celebrate and we had a good time.

Q: Have you had a chance to catch-up with any of these journalists who were questioning your place in the Chase because you didn't have any wins?

Bowyer: That's what makes it put a smile on your face more than anything. I mean the timing couldn't be any better to get my first win. If you have to wait, well this is the time to do it. This Chase is very important -- this is for all the marbles -- and to be able to get it started off on the right foot means so much, confidence- and momentum-wise, going into these last nine races.

Q: I understand you've received a call from Mongolia.

Bowyer: That was cool. That was the neatest phone call. I wanted to talk to Richard just to thank him for giving me the opportunity. He took a chance on a kid from Kansas -- a no-name kid from Kansas -- he took a long shot at best and gave me my first Cup win and it meant a lot for him to call and congratulate me.

Q: Where were you and when did you get it?

Bowyer: I actually had just got off the plane and was on the way to the house when he called. It sounded like he was in an elevator. He was on some satellite phone standing on top of a mountain. He had to crawl on top of a mountain to get reception. He was freezing his butt off but nonetheless he crawled up there to call me and it just meant so much to hear him say congratulations and you deserved it -- it meant a lot.

Q: I think you may be the first NASCAR driver to win a race and get a call from the top of a mountain in Mongolia -- I don't know if we can confirm that, but that's probably true.

Bowyer: I would say you're probably right. I'm also probably the first one to walk into Victory Lane, too. That was kind of different.

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
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• 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.

"The Real Champion"
I've confessed in the past to my ambivalence regarding the Chase, and despite my Sunday afternoon felicity following the race in New Hampshire I want to see how this season plays out on both fronts. With that in mind here is the first of the weekly updates in my imperfect pursuit of crowning "The Real Champion."

If you haven't seen this, I'm simply keeping everyone posted on what the standings would look like if the word "Chase" never meandered into the NASCAR lexicon.

Last Week's Question of the Week
A week ago, fresh off Dale Earnhardt Jr's 13th-place finish in the Race for the Chase, I posed the question, "Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. make the Chase next year in an Hendrick car?"

Here are the results:
Yes -- 78.2%
No - 21.8%

Dale is likely to prove to be only an average driver ... blowing engines isn't his only problem this year.

Lack of focus ... distraction, these are not the attributes of a champion.

He's created the buzz. It's been like a bad, public divorce that goes on and on. Dale Sr. would never have tolerated such stupidity.
-- From Steven in Canada

In regards to your last sentence Steven -- I'm not sure if I would pin all of the stupidity of the last few months on Dale Earnhardt's son.

Yes, he will make the Chase. Did Hendrick have four blown motors for all four teams combined? Same crew chief, better chassis, better bodies, better engines. Multiple wins and another Chase for Junior.
-- From Marty in Winchester, Va.

I honestly believe that if Junior were running HMS engines this year, he'd be in the Chase. However, I also believe that you could throw any top-notch driver behind the wheel of a Hendrick car and they'd do quite well. In the same vein of thought -- I believe that William Perry could have rode Secretariat to a Triple Crown. My point: Hendrick puts together a nice racecar.

Didn't we all think Junior would make the Chase this year? Yeah, he should have, but didn't. Best equipment on the market, arguably best team. No excuses in '08.
-- From Vinnie in Geelong, Australia.

Vinnie makes perhaps the most salient point. In 2008, if Dale Jr. struggles again, the examination begins to steady its lens on the son of the NASCAR legend.

Chat Room Chatter
It should be no surprise that in the chat room during the Jack Daniel's Post Race Show, Clint Bowyer's victory was treated as an inauguration ceremony for NASCAR's next big thing.

Clint's pit crew has worked all year to keep him in the Chase and now it's paid off with a Chase WIN! Congrats!
-- From Scott in New Jersey

Scott brings up a great point. The crew on Sunday in New Hampshire was as flawless as the frighteningly perfect 07 car.

Black RCR in Victory Lane, it brings a little tear to my eye ... good job Clint and RCR.
-- From Sean in Seattle

Sad Eyed in Seattle was not the only person to get a little emotional about the black RCR car taking the checkered flag.

Clint needs more dinners with Aerosmith!!!
-- From C. Parks, Pittsburgh, Penn.

Don't we all. As an aside, I'm glad to see Cherokee Parks landed on his feet in Pittsburgh.

Will the first-time winner go back-to-back? And speaking of back -- will Richard Childress be back from Mongolia?

These are the burning questions as we head to Dover.

Enjoy the race.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.