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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It wasn’t quite the Daytona 500 pole position — although for a while it looked like it might be — but Clint Bowyer‘s fourth-place qualifying effort Sunday afternoon on the Daytona International Speedway high banks was a huge confidence boost for him and for his Stewart-Haas Racing team.
Bowyer took over the No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion for retired great Tony Stewart this season and his first official outing in the car Sunday certainly was noteworthy. And assuring.
The 2012 Cup championship runner-up looked stout taking over driving duties for the three-time series champion Stewart — and held the lead spot on the timing pylon for a good portion of the qualifying session before Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. topped the mark.
Even so, Bowyer was smiling and enthusiastic when qualifying closed.
“It’s a great effort, considering everything these guys have gone through all season long, switching manufacturers and everything that goes with that,'” Bowyer said of his SHR team. “It was right where they left off and we gained on it.”
Bowyer, who was signed by the Stewart-Haas organization in 2015 to replace the retiring Stewart, drove for HScott Motorsports last year while “on deck” for the seat. And he suffered through the worst season of his career with not a single top-five finish.
The promising start in his first official outing for SHR was exactly the kind of beginning both Bowyer and his team could appreciate.
“It’s a nice first time out with him and more importantly, I think it’s a big progression for Stewart-Haas,” crew chief Mike Bugarewicz said. “It says a lot about this company and how hard everybody has worked — our R&D group, everyone in the body shop, the aero engineers, everybody.
“Having two cars in the top 12 (also seventh place Kevin Harvick) we had a reasonable shot at it. We’re happy. This team has been through a lot the past two years and now meeting up with Clint, we’re excited and looking forward to working with him. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this year.
“When the organization that’s been working so hard, sees speed in the car, that’s a good thing. And him climbing in for the first time … this gets him pumped up and everyone in the car excited and ready to go.”
Bowyer has four top-10 finishes in the Daytona 500, including back-to-back fourth-place efforts in 2009-10. He says this restrictor-plate style of racing is something he said he looks forward to. This opportunity with SHR is something he’s ready to seize.
‘It’s Daytona,” Bowyer said of the importance of his efforts.
“It feels good to be competitive again. I was down here last year and we were way off the pace. It was crushing because you know deep down you don’t even have a chance and when you’ve got a car like this — a hot rod like this and a team like this — I’ve got a chance.”