Clint Bowyer

Birthday: 05/30/1979
Hometown: Emporia, KS

YEAR-BY-YEAR CUP SERIES RECAP

2011 -- Finished 13th in series points. ... Career-high six DNFs ruined bid for fourth Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth in five years. ... Best start, second at Atlanta. ... Average start of 16.4. ... Won Talladega-2 during Chase after announcing he would leave Richard Childress Racing, the only stock car team he'd ever driven for, at end of season for Michael Waltrip Racing. ... Average finish of 15.5. ... Completed 98 percent of laps attempted. ... Led 345 laps. ... Second in series in Loop Data stat for Quality Passes (2,141).

2010 -- Finished 10th in series points. ... Made third Chase in fifth full-time season. ... Won twice in Chase (New Hampshire, Talladega) to double career victories total. ... 150-point penalty for out-of-spec chassis at NHMS hurt Chase standing. ... Second in points for three weeks during season. ... Tied career best with seven top-five finishes, had career-best 18 top-10s.

2009 -- Finished 15th in series points. ... Failed to win a race for the second time since he became a full-time driver in 2006. ... Had top-five finishes in three of the first six races (second at Las Vegas), but finished 36th or worse in three of his next six, falling from second to 17th in the standings. He peaked at 14th for one week the rest of the season.

2008 -- Finished fifth in series points. ... Won Richmond spring race. ... At season's second Richmond event, secured berth in the Chase by finishing 12th. ... Posted top-10 finishes in half of Chase's 10 races. ... Finished with no DNFs for second consecutive season.

2007 -- Finished third in series points. ... Started from the pole and got first series victory to lead off the Chase, at New Hampshire, to move from 12th to fourth in the standings. Led 222 of 300 laps. ... Moved into third after a runner-up finish at Kansas, the Chase's third race, and retained that spot the remainder of the season. ... First pole in the series came at Darlington.

2006 -- Finished 17th in series points, in first full Cup season. ... Started year with impressive sixth-place finish in Daytona 500. ... Was in the top 10 in series points for first four weeks of the season. ... Got first top-five finish (fifth) at Phoenix spring race. ... Qualified on the outside pole for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

2005 -- Finished 69th in series points, having run one race, at Phoenix in April, where he started 25th and finished 22nd. ... Amid a runner-up season in the Busch Series, announced plans in October for a move to Cup in 2006.

PREVIOUS RACING HISTORY

In 2011 won once, had four top-10 finishes in four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts. ... NASCAR Nationwide Series champion in 2008. ... Competed full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2004-05, finishing as series runner-up in 2005. ... Raced in NASCAR Midwest Series in 2003. ... Won NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Midwest Region championship in 2002. ... Also won two Dodge Weekly track titles in 2002. ... Began racing at the age of 5; raced motocross for nine years with more than 200 wins.

NOTEWORTHY

Fields dirt cars from his Clint Bowyer Racing shop, including his own dirt modified and two full-time dirt late models for Jonathan Davenport and Jared Landers. ... Bowyer caught the eye of legendary car owner Richard Childress following a 2003 ARCA race at Nashville, where he finished second. After that race, Childress tracked down Bowyer, who was at a car dealer's body shop in his hometown of Emporia, Kan. When told that someone from RCR was on the phone, wanting to talk about hiring him, Bowyer almost didn't take the call, thinking that someone was pulling a practical joke. ... Bowyer is a huge Elvis Presley fan; one of his main off-track highlights of 2005 was meeting Presley's daughter Lisa Marie during the NASCAR Nationwide Series race weekend in Memphis. ... Bowyer's favorite sports teams to follow are University of Kansas basketball and the Kansas City Chiefs.