Bowyer hopes NHMS race will serve as another jolt

LOUDON, N.H. -- Private jets, million-dollar motor coaches and personal assistants aside, let it never be said life is simple or easy for racecar drivers at NASCAR's highest level.

This weekend's case in point: Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, who came to New Hampshire Motor Speedway as the winner of the last Cup race on the 1.058-mile, low-banked oval. He's also the companion Nationwide Series' point leader.

Bowyer won his first Cup Series race here nine months ago in the opening race of the Chase, so returning to NHMS and being competitive in every practice and qualifying session over two days in his respective RCR Chevrolets is critical.

LENOX 301

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Patrick Carpentier	Dodge
2.	Bobby Labonte	Dodge
3.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
4.	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
6.	Reed Sorenson	Dodge
7.	Dario Franchitti	Dodge
8.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet
9.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
10.	A.J. Allmendinger	Toyota

• Lineup | Videos | Photos

And it's a telling fact of the current state of NASCAR racing -- with a virtual year-round Silly Season -- that Bowyer was recently able to take his name out of the mix by signing a three-year contract extension to remain in Childress' No. 07 Sprint Cup Chevrolet (read more).

"Just to be able to get that behind you is very good," Bowyer said Saturday after he qualified in second position for the Nationwide race. "That was the first time I'd ever had to do that and I didn't think it would be a distraction, but man -- it is."

Bowyer said his actions came from due diligence. And while it's hard to match his spiral from fourth in the Cup driver standings after Richmond in May to 10th in points after a semi-miraculous recovery for a top-five at Sonoma last weekend, Bowyer said it had an effect.

"It's always on your mind and you owe it to yourself to at least shop around and look and see what's out there," he said. "But you owe it to Richard [Childress]. You don't want to hurt his feelings because he's the one that gave you the chance.

"It's just an uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, the business side of racing is there, but it's something that I never had to deal with, and certainly that was a stressful time."

Bowyer wouldn't venture a guess on what the percentage chance he would have ever left RCR was.

"Let's just say this -- I didn't want to leave, you know?" Bowyer said. "I'm happy where I'm at, I love everybody at RCR and they treat me like family so until that day ends, I don't want to go anywhere."

This weekend, Bowyer's been in the ballpark in all seven sessions held up to Saturday afternoon's Nationwide race, and the gravity of that isn't lost on him. He's only 34 points ahead of RCR teammate Kevin Harvick, who's 13th in Cup points.

"[This weekend] is very important to us," Bowyer said. "Sonoma was very important to us and to come out of there with a good run -- leaving there on the right foot forward was very important to us coming to a racetrack like [New Hampshire], where we've got a little bit of momentum and we come in with a little bit of confidence.

"There's no guarantees you're going to come here and run good but the car was pretty good in practice."

Bowyer's Nationwide Series program, where he competes in RCR's No. 2 Chevrolet, continues to lead Nationwide regular Brad Keselowski and a trio of fellow double-timing Cup drivers: David Reutimann, defending series champion Carl Edwards and David Ragan.

"The Nationwide deal is very competitive," Bowyer said. "We haven't been running quite up to snuff lately, but the last two races have been pretty good for us so I'm looking to get a little bit better pad in the points there.

"But it's still too close for comfort. It's still a 188-point lead -- but a couple bad races in a row and you're right out of the [lead], so hopefully we can get a little bit more of a pad there."

Bower's consistency shines in the Nationwide Series, where he has a win, seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in the first 17 races.

Bowyer's fortunes have fluctuated more radically on the Sprint Cup side of the garage, where finishes of 36th (Dover), 39th (Pocono) and 26th (Michigan) knocked him from fifth in the standings back to 12th.

He worked some strategy with crew chief Gil Martin last weekend at Infineon Raceway to change running deep in the field into a fourth-place finish. It moved him to 10th on the chart, but he isn't breathing easily.

"On the Cup side, we're on the bubble, man," Bowyer said. "We're 10th, but not too far out of 12th. So hopefully with a good run [Sunday, we'll get better in the points].

"Right now, we just can't panic. We've got to be consistent and if we can rattle off seven more top-10s in a row I think that will put us in the [Chase] and that's what we've got to focus on, just trying to be consistent and solid."

That's what Bowyer displayed between this season's fourth race, at Atlanta, and race 10, at Richmond, which Bowyer won from the 31st starting position. After that, Bowyer was a season-best fourth in points. He draws great comfort from what his team was able to do in that seven-race stretch of top-10s.

"Absolutely -- that's what you look for in a race team," Bowyer said. "I certainly want to win a championship one of these days and that's what it takes. The bad races you've got to be able to make good ones and get a decent finish out of it. The good ones, you've got to go out and win the race and run up front.

"But consistency still wins championships. I'm more proud of rattling off those seven top-10s in a row earlier in the season than [anything else] because that's what it takes to win championships. If we can just get back to what we were doing and what we're capable of doing we'll be just fine."

He'll also pray for clear weather on Sunday. After rain disrupted Friday, both Saturday practices were completed per the schedule.

"It's disruptive and it's quite a bit different on the track, where you don't slip and slide around like you typically do," Bowyer said, forecasting a possibly difficult racing environment on Sunday. "You've got to drive the cars a little bit snugger [tending to push] and pull on the wheel and it don't seem to fall off as bad.

"Normally [the tires] fall off quite a bit here and [this weekend] they just don't seem like they're falling off at all, and I think that's due in part to the cool weather."

Sunday's forecast calls for a high temperature of 85 degrees and a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms.