FORT WORTH, Texas -- Apparently housekeeping is not one of Clint Bowyer's strong suits.

Asked Friday where he keeps the trophy he recently captured for winning the Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Bowyer chuckled before making an embarrassing revelation.

Shane Wilson and Clint Bowyer

“

I'm just happy to get him back and get him in the routine. We want to get things finished off right for this season and as we get started out for next season without missing a beat.

”

-- CLINT BOWYER, on Shane Wilson's return from suspension

"This is kind of bad, but the trophy for Talladega is on the floor of my motorhome," Bowyer said of the prize for winning last Sunday's Sprint Cup race. "It was on the table but I had to move it so I could eat [Thursday] night. It hasn't made it home yet."

Seven races in, there is only one multiple winner in the 2010 Chase. It's not four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson. Nor is it either of Johnson's closest pursuers in the point standings, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Instead it's Bowyer, who also won the first Chase race -- the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19.

Of course there was a little housekeeping item that didn't get checked off the list for Bowyer's No. 33 Chevrolet in post-race inspection following the New Hampshire victory. His car was found to be too high in the rear end, and the penalties that were assessed three days after the race effectively ended any hopes Bowyer had of truly competing for the Chase title.

Bowyer was docked 150 points, knocking him from second to 12th in the Chase point standings. Car owner Richard Childress also was penalized 150 owner points, while crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney each were suspended for six races. Wilson also was fined $150,000.

Though the suspensions for Wilson and Haney eventually were reduced to four weeks, and Wilson's fine was dropped to $100,000, the rest of the penalties stood despite appeals by Richard Childress Racing on behalf of Bowyer's No. 33 team.

Sunday's race will be Wilson's first back on the pit box. Bowyer fared quite well in Wilson's absence, with RCR director of competition Scott Miller serving as crew chief as Bowyer finished second at Kansas in addition to winning at Talladega. Bowyer won at Talladega despite also switching pit crews with Kevin Harvick one week earlier to give Harvick a better chance at winning the championship Bowyer once thought he would be competing for at this point in the season.

"I was pulling out [of the garage stall for practice] and I saw [Wilson] standing on top of the hauler and I said, 'I bet your radio batteries are charged up,' " said Bowyer, laughing. "They've had four weeks to get charged up and so they probably won't be running down in his radio anytime soon.

"I'm just happy to get him back and get him in the routine. We want to get things finished off right for this season and as we get started out for next season without missing a beat."

Jeff Burton, one of Bowyer's RCR teammates, said it was important for Bowyer to win at Talladega to validate his earlier tarnished win at New Hampshire. The victories are the only two Bowyer has posted this season.

"I definitely think that Clint wanted to prove to everyone that they could win without cheating and I think that means a lot to Clint," Burton said. "Clint wants people to respect him. He doesn't want to be viewed as somebody that was cheating to win a race. That really offends him.

"I don't know if he's been racing differently or not [since the penalty], but I do know that it means a great deal to him that the people in this [media center] room and the people in that garage and the people in the stands don't believe that he's a cheater. To be able to win a race after all that and go through tech [inspection without further incident], I think that means a lot to Clint."

Bowyer more or less agreed with his teammate.

"Last week was a great, well-needed win for our race team," Bowyer said. "It was very important and that's the thing that probably is the most exciting just for everybody.

"You know you think about everything that happened after the penalty -- the sponsors, you as the race team, not having a crew chief, and down to switching pit crews with Kevin to be able to give them another win and give them a better feeling about the situation. Those are all good things. I'm just happy for everybody involved and for myself and the 33 car and you couldn't ask for a better situation."

Well, actually, he could. If he could have the 150 points back for the penalty, he would be fifth in the point standings instead of 12th. He still would be 179 points out of first, almost certainly still an insurmountable deficit with only three races left and with four quality drivers in front of him.

But at least he has the two trophies he's claimed in this Chase, which is twice as many as anyone else to this point. But he admitted that one of the prizes he won in New Hampshire, which NASCAR permitted him to keep despite the assertion that he won with an illegal car, is missing.

"[The actual trophy] made it back home, but we lost that lobster that they gave us in New Hampshire," Bowyer said. "They mount a lobster somehow, so I am waiting on them to get that to us and I am curious to see what that lobster looks like. It will be a different trophy for the trophy room, for sure."

He'd better not leave that one on the kitchen table, or he might eat it by mistake.