Inconsistent Bowyer takes bumpy road to the Chase

What Clint Bowyer starts, he finishes. For the second consecutive year Bowyer didn't have a DNF, one of only two drivers for which that can be said. His 2008 was quite similar to his season of 2007 when he emerged a budding star by making the Chase in just his second full season and finishing third in points.

Bowyer had one win, five top-fives and 17 top-10s in 2007. His win and top-10 totals remained the same in 2008, to go along with a career-high seven top-fives. His average finish dipped slightly from last year to this season, 13.8 to 14.1. Yet, Bowyer proved his mettle in 2008 by finishing fifth in points after flirting with the cutoff for several weeks leading up to the Chase.

Don't ask Clint Bowyer to apologize for his victory at Richmond.

Bowyer didn't get off to a good start and had other stretches in the season of futility and strange inconsistency. He was 24th in points after three races in which his best finish was 19th and later went through a span of four races with finishes ranging from 25th to 39th. In all, he had 11 finishes of 20th or worse.

Bowyer found his bearings in the fourth race of the season at Atlanta, where he led 52 laps and finished sixth. The following week at Bristol he led 81 laps and finished third. The 133 laps he led in those two races accounted for all but 55 of the total laps he led for the season. Those two races also were the beginning of seven consecutive top-10 finishes for Bowyer, culminating with his victory at Richmond and a fourth-place standing in points.

Bowyer dropped to 12th in points throughout the course of the next five races and from there struggled to find consistency as he struggled to stay inside the Chase cutoff. A finish of 20th or higher would be followed by a top-10, only to be followed by another finish, or two, of 20th or higher. He was 13th in points before finishing seventh at Bristol. He was back in the Chase to stay, and closed the year strong with only one finish worse than 12th in the final 13 races.

In 2009, Bowyer will start all over, literally. He's moving to RCR's new fourth car, without the top-35 guarantee for the first five races, and will have a new crew chief. Without the luxury of preseason testing, the course of Bowyer's season could be determined by how fast he gels with a new team.

The Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway -- Bowyer stole the thunder from Virginia native Denny Hamlin and NASCAR's favorite son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for just his second career victory. Hamlin led a track-record 381 laps, but was slowed by a leak in his tire. Junior was leading with three laps to go when Kyle Busch slapped him into the wall. That left things open for Bowyer, and a win is a win in the record book, no matter how you look at it.

Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- A 12th-place finish in the first of 10 Chase races shouldn't be the death knell, but eight other Chase drivers finished better. Bowyer dropped from fifth to ninth in the standings, although he lost just 13 points on the leader. Bowyer finished 12th in the Chase four times, and finished in the top-10 in just half of those races. Not good enough.

Clint Bowyer: 2008 Video Highlights | Superstore | Community Crew