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."

Bowyer won two races and earned two Chase berths in three seasons with crew chief Gil Martin and the No. 07 operation. When Richard Childress Racing brought Casey Mears aboard for the 2009 campaign, Bowyer found himself shuffled to the No. 33 car, backed by General Mills. Although sponsor requests are widely believed to have played a part in the move, Childress also clearly needed a driver who could get the new car into races despite an unsettled owner points situation.

Bowyer fit the bill. Still, it seemed an odd change to break up what outwardly appeared to be a championship-contending outfit. But to hear Bowyer talk, he was ready to take the next step.

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"Change isn't always bad, and I think it's proven to be pretty good for me," he said. "Like I said, I had a fun time and great success with Gil and them, but it wasn't good enough. We weren't winning championships and we had three years together. As I walk in the museum at RCR and I look through [Dale] Earnhardt's championships, and the next thing you know you look through all the championship crew chiefs, and there was one piece of that puzzle that always held true and that was him. He always had good people surrounding him, I can promise you that."

So after last season ended, Mears inherited Martin and the rest of the No. 07 crew, while Bowyer introduced himself to an entirely new program. The only holdover was Mike Dillon, Bowyer's spotter and RCR's vice president for competition. Many of the team members came from the RCR Nationwide program, which won the championship with Bowyer last year. Shane Wilson, who oversaw the organization's development and testing outfits in 2008, was installed as crew chief.

With no preseason testing to bond over -- on sanctioned tracks, the practice has been banned because of economic concerns -- Bowyer found himself a frequent visitor to the shop, chatting up his new crewmen and trying to build a rapport with Wilson. That effort has continued into the season. It hasn't always been pretty, but it's certainly proven effective.

"Typically preseason, we're able to work maybe five, six, seven tests together, and really get that communication down and take advantage of those tests in getting your team ready and assembled for Daytona. And we weren't able to do that this year," Bowyer said. "... We had to get acclimated to each other, learn each other. When I'm saying loose in the race car, figuring out just how loose that is by the tone in my voice, that's the kind of communication that's crucial to running with competition as good as it is today in this sport. Those are things we'll have to use practice sessions for. Practice isn't always the best. Usually we get results by the end of the race, but the practice sessions have been rough, because we're still trying to learn from each other and learn what we're looking for out of each other."

The change was enough for many to predict that Bowyer would take a step backward this season. Instead -- at least to this point -- the exact opposite has happened. Teammate Jeff Burton isn't surprised.

"They've done a great job. It's been fun to watch," Burton said. "One of the reasons, since we didn't have something for Shane to do, we insisted that he stay because we believe a great deal in his ability. Obviously, Clint is extremely talented. They came out of the gate with a point to prove. I think a lot of people thought they were going to be in trouble and not be able to be successful. I think that motivated them some. Shane's done a really nice job of understanding these cars pretty quickly, which is a difficult thing to do. These cars will push you and challenge you. Sometimes a fresh approach is a good idea, too. Being on the inside but not completely in the middle of the trees has I think been good for Shane, because he's been able to pick out of each of the other teams there the good and the bad. He's done a good job. You watch them during the weekend, they steadily get better all during the weekend, and that's the sign of a good race team."

Although Bowyer qualified 31st for Sunday's Food City 500, he did post the ninth-fastest lap in the Friday's opening Sprint Cup practice. But on the season, his outfit in far better shape than most other teams -- including the one he left behind. Mears and the No. 07 gang stand 25th in points, yet to record their first top-10 finish of the year. Meanwhile, Bowyer motors along as if nothing ever happened.

"The success we had was good," Bowyer said. "But I had a lot of faith in myself, too, and I knew that given the right team, the right people, I could still get the job done."