KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Those heat-of-the-moment tirades that fans are able to hear during the course of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race might be entertaining, but they don’t always tell the whole story, according to HScott Motorsports driver Clint Bowyer.
“Whether I’m frustrated or happy or whatever … whether it’s a (celebration) or a pissed off moment that happens, the wick’s pretty short,” Bowyer said Thursday at Kansas Speedway, site of Saturday’s GoBowling 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“It burns out in about five minutes. The next thing out of my mouth is ‘Alright, now what are we going to do to fix it?’ “
Bowyer, 36, is in a transition year, spending the 2016 season as driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet for HSM. He’ll move over to Stewart-Haas Racing in ’17, inheriting the No. 14 ride currently occupied by co-owner/driver Tony Stewart.
An early-season start that saw the driver finish inside the top 20 only once in seven races frustrated the eight-time winner, and that frustration often could be heard as he vented to his team on the radio during races.
But it’s what takes place after the pot has boiled over, he said, that determines what occurs next.
“I don’t ever care about yesterday or what happened in a practice or a race,” he said. “… This sport is all about what you’re going to do tomorrow. That’s what you have to instill into yourself and everybody around you to be able to go out there and get the job done, compete at the level I know we’re capable of competing at for our sponsors and for ourselves.”
Bowyer hasn’t been to Victory Lane in a Sprint Cup race since the 2012 season, a span of 123 races. He did qualify for last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup based on points earned, but was eliminated in the first round.
HScott fields two Sprint Cup teams — the No. 15 of Bowyer as well as the No. 46 for driver Michael Annett. Bowyer enters this weekend’s race 27th in points while Annett is 35th.
But two of the last three races have seen Bowyer finish inside the top 10 — he was eighth at Bristol and seventh most recently at Talladega.
“I was struggling to get that kind of consistency where I was last year,” he said of his final season at the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing. “When you’re down, most of the time there’s a reason, especially when you’re down as far as we’re down. We had work to do; we’re starting to get some new waves of cars built, get some things to where we are satisfied with them and excited about bringing them to the track and seeing what our hard work has done. That’s all you can do.”
Anyone should be frustrated, he said, if they felt their performance as a driver or their team’s performance wasn’t up to par. That doesn’t mean a team no longer attempts to improve.
“When you’re running good, it’s easy,” Bowyer said. “When you’re running bad, it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life. I don’t care what organization you’re at or how much depth you have or anything else. It’s that simple. …
“This is hard. This is a hard business and it’s very competitive. If you’re good, you better work hard to stay good or you’re not going to be there long. If you’re bad, you’ve got to work hard to get caught up.”
