BRISTOL, Tenn. -- He still looks like he should be wearing black. There's something about his new, squeaky-clean yellow firesuit that just doesn't quite seem to fit Clint Bowyer, an old motorcycle racer and dirt-tracker who sprung from dusty old places called Thunderhill and Heartland Park. That dark car and dark uniform just suited a hustling, no-frills driver who'd be perfectly at home in a banged-up modified car, and with mud splashed across the front of his helmet.

“

Change isn't always bad, and I think it's proven to be pretty good for me.

”

CLINT BOWYER

And yet here he is, surrounded by bright, primary colors, and on the brink of what may be the best season of his burgeoning Sprint Cup career. The hues may not be ideal, but the surroundings certainly are -- despite being with a new team and a new crew chief, the Kansas native stands second in points, and through four races appears intent on returning to the Chase for a third consecutive year. Maybe it's that splash of black on the firesuit sleeves, hearkening back to his days in the menacing Jack Daniel's car. Or maybe Bowyer is a little more capable of carrying a team than many gave him credit for.

The latter certainly seems to be the case as Bowyer returns to Bristol Motor Speedway, where last August team owner Richard Childress announced that the driver would be moved from the established, successful No. 07 program to a fledgling No. 33 operation that didn't even have any owner points. You'd never know it from the results this season, where Bowyer has only one finish worse than sixth and stands 43 points behind series leader Jeff Gordon.

"When your boss says, 'This is what you're going to do,' this is pretty much what you're going to do," Bowyer said Friday at the half-mile track (watch video). "It definitely was nerve-wracking. You just don't ever know. You always know what you've got in the bank with what you had. It's hard to let that go, but maybe it was time for a change, and it's really opened my eyes in the beginning part of this season with a completely new team. New optimism, new everything, it's already opened my eyes to what can become of this. We haven't even hit our stride yet, and we've already had three good finishes out of four. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season seeing what this team is made out of." (Continued)