Who could have blamed him for being worried? After two consecutive years of making the Chase, Clint Bowyer entered 2009 with no owners' points, a new crew chief and a new sponsor. Bowyer left his No. 07 team and crew chief Gil Martin to make room for Casey Mears; and with little testing in the offseason, Bowyer and his new team had managed a strong start after a little more than a month into the season.

Leaving Martinsville in March, Bowyer had notched his third top-five finish of the year and was second in drivers' standings behind Jeff Gordon. "It was a solid run for us," Bowyer reflected. "If we just keep clicking these off, we're going to be just fine."

“

You work hard and you're very proud of your team and their hard work that they've put into a year and when it doesn't go according to plan it's frustrating and hard to take for everybody.

”

- CLINT BOWYER

It would take more than 15 races for Bowyer to crack the top five again and at the midway point of the season had dropped 13 spots in the standings. Despite a couple of Nationwide Series wins, Bowyer never found his way to Victory Lane racing in the Sprint Cup Series.

Fast forward to a disappointing 29th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bowyer's chances of making this season's Chase were over. Like any true competitor, Bowyer wouldn't be one to mail it in with more than a couple of months racing left to go.

Standing trackside at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on the eve of the sixth annual Chase, Bowyer was on the outside looking in. "It's hard to swallow, hard to take in," Bowyer said. "You work hard and you're very proud of your team and their hard work that they've put into a year and when it doesn't go according to plan it's frustrating and hard to take for everybody."

Bowyer wanted to finish out the season with a win and gain some momentum heading into next year. Despite never getting that win, Bowyer raced hard the remainder of the season, racking up four top-five finishes and 16 top-10s.

With little on the line but the desire to finish strong, Bowyer managed to ruffle the feathers of this year's Cup champion at Homestead when Jimmie Johnson asked Chad Knaus to have his spotter go talk to Bowyer's about racing too closely, considering what was on the line historically for No. 48. Knaus overruled his driver only telling him on the radio, "We don't need to be starting anything right now."

Still among the elite

Four top-five and 16 top-10 finishes place Bowyer near the top tier of the sport's elite drivers. Only eight posted better finishing stats, and as Bowyer and crew become more familiar with each other -- combined with their ability to have solid testing sessions in the offseason -- he should gain more confidence in his car and crew heading into 2010.

Unfamiliar territory

For the past two years, Bowyer was a top-five finisher who always managed to race his way into Chase contention. After a solid start to the season, including a string of top-five finishes, Bowyer's momentum slowed through the middle months and left him out of the Chase for the first time since his rookie season in 2006. It goes without saying that Bowyer was disappointed with unfamiliar territory this season, which didn't include a single Cup win.